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R154.Em6  .B53         The  birthday  dinner 

BBHHHBBMHHBMmHilllltllllliliit(iiiiiHiiiiinnitr 

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BK  IT  KNOWN   INTO  A  1.1.   MEN   HV  THESE   PRESENTS.      -A»  You  Like  It 


F* 


or 


J4uU       >LcJh~-€Lsy*Jp*f  i^dSl^V^h^^  li^v*^ 


with  the  Compliments  of 


£*Y  Jl>LeJ&-t^4n^  (Xat&w*-  ^M^r^nA.  - 


•AND  TIKE  THE  HEAKEK  WITH  A  HOOK  OF  WORDS." 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 
"VET   MY   (HMD  WILL   IS  GREAT,  THOK'.H   THE  GIFT  SMALL."— Pericles. 


^eA-   ,*uSk-. 


T 1 1  E 


HIKTIIDAY   DINNER 


THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET,  M.D.,LL.D. 


%)i$  professional  jfrtmtis 


AT  DELMONICO'S,   NEW  YORK 


MAY  29,   1905 


WITH  AN  AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL  NARRATIVE 


N  k  w    York 

THE    BRADSTREET    PRESS 

iqo5 


-4N»«-^ 


"Welcome  Him,  Then,  According  to  His  Worth." 

Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 


MEN  OF  ins  \\  u  SHOl  LD  BE  MOST  LIBERAL;  THEY  IRE  SET  HERE 
POR  EXAMPLES."    Henry  vim 


>-c4£jh»c**-c4£jrW-c-45**t> 


PREFACE 

S  the  recipient  of  this  birth  dinner,  I  so 
fully  appreciated  the  honor  done  me  by 
my  professional  friends,  that  1  obtained 
from  each  speaker  his  photograph  and  a 
written  summary  of  so  much  as  each  could 
recall  of  his  speech.  To  these  were  added 
some  letters  of  congratulation  from  those  who  could  not  be 
present,  the  public  reports  of  the  proceeding's  and  references 
made  to  the  event  by  the  press,  and  in  addition  many  appro- 
priate quotations  from  Shakespeare  to  illustrate  the  text,  that 
as  a  whole  the  collection  might  be  preserved.  At  the  end 
has  been  placed  the  address  prepared  by  me  to  be  read  at 
the  dinner,  but  this  was  not  done,  and  is  now  given  as  part 
of  the  history  of  my  professional  life. 

At  the  request  of  some  who  participated  in  the  proceed- 
ings, it  was  decided  that  this  collection  should  be  printed  in 
an  edition  sufficient  to  present  each  person  who  was  present 
with  a  copy  as  a  souvenir  of  the  occasion.  It  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  speeches  were  not  reported  in  full,  as  they  were 
unusually  good.  Much  that  was  said  has  been  unavoidably 
lost,  and  even  what  has  been  preserved  could  only  be  gotten 
together  afterwards  in  a  disconnected  manner,  thus  failing  to 
do  full  justice  to  any  of  the  speakers. 

The  sentiment  indicated  by  the  collection  could  not  be 
expressed  better  than  in  the  words  of  a  dedication  to  "'The 
History  of    the    Emmet    Family,   Etc.,"  which   I    wrote    some 


3k:u.*5 


years  ago  for  my  children  and  their  descendants,  as  follows: 
1 '  With  ray  love  I  dedicate  this  volume  to  my  children,  and«do 
so  with  the  hope  that  they  may  realize  a  just  pride  in  the 
record  of  those  who  in  the  past  have  so  honestly  filled  their 
station  in  life.  A  sentiment  which,  if  properly  appreciated, 
must  needs  bear  good  fruit  from  the  example  thus  set  forth 
for  emulation." 

THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET. 


"THIS  STORY  SHALL  THE  GOOD  MAN  TEACH  HIS  SON."-Henry  V. 

4 


COME,  LET  is  TO  THE  BANQUBT."-Mach  Ado  About  Kothlng. 


&$L*a^J2%&3%& 


^be  /Ifcenu 


<^.^L^S»^S> 


A  GOOD  DIGESTION  TO  vol  ALL."— Henry  viu 

5 


"WILL  YOU  DIME  WITH  ME    ...     -    AY,  IP  I  BB  ALIVE,  AMD  TOUR  MIND 
HOLD,  AND  rOUB  DINNEB  WORTH  THE  BATING."     |ol  . 


DtNNKH    <;i  \  i:.\    in    IIONOB    OF 

DR.  THOMAS    ADDIS     EMMET 

OM     ins    sk\  i:.ntvsi:\  i;mm     BIRTHDAY 
BY    ins 

MEDICAL    FRIENDS 

.Monday    EVENING,   MAY    T\v  i:nt  v-m  nth.    isos 

AT    HALF   AFTEH    NKVEN    O'CLOCK 
DELHONICO'H 


I-I.KASK      t'BESKXT     Tlll-i      IAKII 

^/'  /UV.  /Zt  ^bJL/  ?A^'-y 


TAHI.E 


M: 


ADMISSION    CARD 


4Y.  cTK^~,  /Zdcl*  hu^,JT7 


card  designating  seat 

SAW  VOU  XOT,  EVEN  NOW,  A  BLESSED  TROOP  INVITE  ME  TO  A  BAXOLET? 

Henrv  VIII. 


TIS  A  GOODLY  CREDIT  I  <»K  VOU."— Merry  Wive*  of  Wladaor. 


r/        ■  / 


'/' 


'/////     '      /// 


f 


'/7tf>  -    /v/v//y  f  //////<  / 


///  ///.).  /?///////.),/,////.  />////,/,, 


"/ 


'S/i 


ry     //'.) 


TITLE   PAGFOFTHE  MENU 


"GIVE  ME  YOUR  HAND;  WE  MUST  NEEDS  DINE  TOGETHER." 

Tiroon  of  Athens. 


BAT  M)  ONIONS  NOR  GARLIC,  FOR  w  B  IRE  ro  UTTER  SU  BET  BREATH." 

Miilsuimin-t  -Ni. 


<*MENU*> 

LUCINES 

potages 

CONSOMME   SOUVERAINE  CREME   St.    Gf.KMAIN 

fjors  2>'Ocuvrc 
Radis  Olives  Celeri 

Ipoteson 

Truites  de  ruisseau  a  la  Meuniere  Concombres 

IReleves 
Selle  d'agneau  sauce  Colbert  Tomates  farcies 

JEntrecs 

Ris  de  veau  en  caisses  A  l'Italienne        Petti s  pois  franqais 

asperges  nouvelles  sauce  hollandaise 

Sorbet  au  Kirsch 

IRotte 

PlGEONNEAUX  SALADE    DE    LAITUES 

JEntremets  Dc  Douceur 

Glaces  de  fantaisie  Petit  fours 

Fromage  Cafe 

Sauternes        Moet  &  Chandon        Brut  Imperial        St.  Julien 

\Y  111  IE    Rill   K 


*r§fr*j<<-§&*j 


"SOME  FOOD  WE  II A l>  AND  SOME  FRESH  WATER."— The  Tempest 

1  i 


II   Tin:  DRINK  \<>i    GIVI   Ml    TOUCH  m\    PALATE   ADVERSELY,  I  MAKE 
\  i  ROOKED  PACE  AT  IT."     Corio 


«£LJ%*«^?LJ^ 


^be  Coasts 


«^««w» 


WE  SHAI.I.  DRINK  TOGETHER;  AND  vol    SHALL  BEAR  A  BETTER 
WITNESS  HACK  THAN  WORDS."— Coriolanus. 

l3 


AM)  SO  EVERY  ONE  ACCORDING  TO  Ills  CUE."     Mldmnnmer-Nlsrht' 


ifcxevtzs 


*  TOASTS  *> 


JlUroDtlCtton, Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of  Chicago 

"  Dr.  CntlUft,  tljf  &tirge01t  "      -     -     Dr.  W.  M.  Polk,  of  New  V..rk 
»  Dl'.  Cnuitft,  tl)C  cTfacl)Cr,"     -     -     -     Dr.  W.  H.  Baker,  of  Boston 

»«  Dr.  Cmmrt,  trjr  tBroical  author," 

Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon,  of  Portland,  Maine 
»«  Dr.  Cmmct,  tlK  Litterateur,"  -  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Farley 
"  Dr.  Cmmrt,  tl)C  ^rteUO,"     -     Dr.  Geo.  T.  Harrison,  of  New  York 

"  Dr.  Cmmrt,  trjr  patriot,"     -    -    Dr.  F.  J.  Quinlan,  of  New  York 


*2T0n8f$*  *ST* 


THESE  FELLOWS  WILL  DO  WELL."— 2 Henry IV. 

'5 


"WHAT  SHOULD  WE  SAY,     .    .    .    7     WHY,  ANYTHING,  BUT  TO 
THE  PURPOSE."-Hamlat 


*<-£*»o^^h»o^£*»o 


|^roccc6tngs 


^£**^<^£jh»t>*-c£*»*-> 


YOU  SHALL  HAVE  NO  CAUSE  TO  CURSE  THE  PAIR  PROCEEDINGS 
OF  THIS   DAY."— King  John. 

17 


i\  THE  THANKSGIVING  BEFORE  HI  \i  ..sure. 


w<  £**>»<•  £*»o 


Gbc  Divine  Blessing  was  invofcefc  b\> 

l)te  ©race,  0)t  jUost  Eefcerettt)  Joljn  pu  favltv, 

archbishop  of  1Rew  H?orh 


*-c^Nowc^ih>c/ 


'PEACE   HERE:   GRACE  AND  GOOD  COMPANY.' -Measure  for  Measure. 

19 


I  AM   MASTER  01    MY  SPEECHES        Cymbeltae. 


E.  C.   DUDLEY.   M.   D. 


THIS  IS  MY  BIRTHDAY;  IS  THIS  YEW   DAI  WAS  CASSIUS  BORN. 

Jlllil! 

"WELL:  SPEAK  ON.     WHERE  WERE  YOl   BORN?"     Pei 


INTRODUCTION    BY    DR     DUDLEY. 


.     EMMET    AX  I)    GENTLEMEN:     One 

should  always  he  able  to  make  an  accurate 
differential  diagnosis  between  his  own 
property  and  the  property  of  another.  I 
therefore  congratulate  Ur.  Emmet  on  his 
judicious  choice  of  a  birthday,  since  the  29th 
of  May  was  also  the  date  of  my  entrance  upon  this  mundane 
sphere.  Now,  the  question  is,  whose  birthday  is  it  ?  Nor  do 
I  know  to  whom  this  gavel  belongs  which  I  hold  in  my  hand, 
but  I  am  going  to  carry  it  home,  ornament  it  with  a  silver 
tablet  upon  which  shall  be  inscribed  the  name  of  Emmet,  and 
then  I  am  going  to  hand  it  down  to  my  children  and  my 
children's  children.  When  your  facetious  chairman  of  the 
committee  of  arrangements  asked  me  to  introduce  the  speakers 
at  this  dinner,  he  remarked  that  fashions  travel  west  and  that 
jokes  travel  east.  The  question  before  you  then  is,  whether 
in  thus  referring  to  my  journey  east  he  had  in  mind  myself  or 
baggage  ? 

There  have  been  times  in  American  gynecology  when  we 
have  heard  nothing  but  the  name  of  Emmet,  and  the  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Gynecological  Society,  just  held  at 
Niagara  Falls,  would  suggest  the  fact  that  those  times  have 
not  altogether  passed. 

It  might  therefore  not  be  inappropriate  in  speaking  here 
of  Dr.  Emmet  to  repeat  much  of  what  was  said  at  that  meet- 
ing,   and,    you    know,    there   would   be    precedent    for    this,    for 

23 


the  Macedonians  of  old  always  discussed  important  subjects 
twice — once  for  reflection,  when  they  were  sober,  and  once 
for  enthusiasm,  when  they  were  drunk. 

I  had  thought  of  addressing  you  in  the  original  Latin, 
Greek  and  Hebrew;  but,  then,  you  are  not  familiar  with  those 
languages,  and  His  Grace,  the  Archbishop,  on  my  right,  is 
familiar — two  prohibitory  reasons. 

If  one  were  to  speak  of  Dr.  Emmet  as  a  man  and  were  to 
measure  him  on  the  criterion  of  greatness,  modesty,  philan- 
thropy, civic  virtue,  morality,  mental  integrity,  and  good  deeds  ; 
if  by  such  a  rule  we  were  to  measure  him,  he  would  stand 
up  against  the  whole  length  of  it.  However,  it  would  not  be 
difficult  to  find  numerous  reasons  why  Dr.  Emmet  is  such  a 
man;  he  does  not  come  of  common  stock,  but  of  preferred 
stock,  for  his  father,  his  grandfather,  and  his  more  remote 
antecedents  were  men  of  gentle  blood  and  men  of  intellect. 

Seventy-seven  years  ago  to-night  our  nourishing  mother 
earth  stood  by  the  cradle  of  an  infant,  and  thus  she  spoke: 
"  Waken,  my  man  child,  and  take  from  me,  thy  first  mother,  my 
gifts.  Thou  of  all  weather,  and  of  out  of  doors,  I  give  thee 
will  and  might  and  love  of  the  undefiled.  I  give  thee  strength 
of  my  forests,  my  rivers,  and  my  seas,  my  sunshine,  my  star- 
shine,  and  of  my  heart.  I  cleanse  thee.  The  slime  of  the  long 
years  shall  drop  from  thee.  I  start  thee  afresh,  newborn. 
At  night  in  my  star-hung  tent,  the  gods  shall  visit  thee.  In 
day  thou  shall  walk  in  a  way  to  become  as  a  god  thyself.  I 
give  thee  scorn  of  the  ignoble,  trust  in  thy  fellows,  firm  belief 
in  thine  own  lusty  muscle,  and  unconquerable  will.  I  make 
thee  familiar  friend  of  hardship  and  content,  spare  and  pure, 
and  strong.  I  give  thee  joy  in  the  earth,  the  sun,  and  wind, 
and  belief  in  the  Unseen.      This  is  thy  birthright." 

"  IN  THE  DERIVATION  OF  MY  BIRTH,  AND  IN  OTHER  PARTICULARS."— Henry  V. 

24 


Numerous  Letters  and  telegrams  of  congratulation  sent  by 
loving  friends  have  been  received  from  many  parts  of  the 
world.     Some  oi  these  Dr.  Polk  read,  as  chairman. 


<-c£**>^^jh»*> 


I  WARRANT  HE  HATH  A  THOUSAND  OF  THESE  LETTERS,  WRIT  WITH  BLANK 
SPACE  FOR  DIFFERENT  NAMES."— Merry  wives  of  Windsor. 


Dr.  Polk  read  a  number  of  letters  and  made  a  few  remarks 
relating  to  them,  before  being-  introduced  by  Dr.  Dudley,  to 
respond  to  the  toast  assigned  to  him. 


^dfrzu^&xJ 


"  VOL'  MAY  DO  THE  PART  OF  AN  HONEST  MAN  IN  IT."— Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 

25 


THIS  IS  AN  ART  WHICH  DOES  MEND  NATURE,  CHANGE  IT  RATHER, 
THE  ART  ITSELF  IS  NATURE.— SO  IT  IS."-Winter's  Tale. 


"  ®r,  (Emmet,  ttyc  burgeon/' 


DR.   DUDLEY'S   INTRODUCTION   OF   DR.   POLK. 


SUPPOSE  Dr.  Polk  has  alluded  to  the 
characteristic  modesty  of  Chicago  in  order 
to  give  me  an  opportunity  of  repeating  the 
prophesy  of  a  fellow  townsman,  that  the 
time  may  come  when  the  people  of  Chicago 
will  think  as  much  of  Chicago  as  the  people 
of  New  York  think  of — London ;  but  we 
are  here,  not  to  show  that  Chicago  is  greater  than  New  York, 
for  it  is  not;  we  only  think  it  is  greater.  We  are  here  to  do 
honor  to  a  man  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  world.  On  this 
programme  we  see  the  name  of  Emmet  as  the  surgeon,  as  the 
teacher,  as  the  medical  author,  as  the  litterateur,  as  the  friend, 
as  the  patriot.  These  and  other  qualities  indicate  the  different 
phases  of  his  character,  each  even  complete  in  itself,  and  yet 
we  like  to  think  of  them  in  combination  just  as  we  like  to 
consider,  not  one,  but  all  the  colors  of  the  solar  spectrum  which 
combined  made  up  the  glorious  white  light,  like  the  white 
light  of  truth.  So  the  qualities  of  Emmet  when  put  together 
are  combined  in  the  formation  of  a  clean  and  pure  man. 

Let  us  first  consider  Emmet  as  a  surgeon ;  and  just  at  this 
point  I  must  give  way  to  Dr.  Polk,  for  as  Whister  holds  that 
the  best  critic  of  a  work  of  art  is  one  who  is  able  to  paint  the 
best  kind  of  picture  himself,  so  Dr.  Polk  is  quite  prepared  to 
criticise  a  great  surgeon. 


"DO  NOT  PUT  ME  TO  'T;  FOR  I  AM  NOTHING,  IF  NOT  CRITICAL."-Othello. 

27 


THE  GENTLEMAN  IS  LEARN'D,  AND  A  MOST  RARE  SPEAKER."— Henry  VIII. 


W.   M.   POLK,  M.   D. 


'WHAT  I  WOULD  SPEAK  OF  CONCERNS  HIM."— Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 


'^%t5z~^tm 


DR.    POLK'S    RESPONSE    TO    THE    TOAST, 


J®v.  ctomet,  t^e  burgeon/' 


ALLED  upon  to  respond  to  this  toast,  one 
quickly  asks  in  which  niche  should  Emmet 
be  placed.  The  answer  comes  loud  and 
clear,  as  the  man  of  great  operative  skill, 
as  the  man  of  broad  and  sound  judgment, 
and  look  where  we  may,  we  find  none  that 
surpassed  and  few  that  equaled  him.  As  we  pass  in  review 
the  events  of  our  Department  of  Surgery  which  have  tran- 
spired during  the  past  forty  years,  we  see  that  the  name  of 
Emmet  is  associated  more  prominently  with  the  great  achieve- 
ments of  that  period  than  that  of  any  one  of  his  cotemporaries. 
He  it  was  who  worked  out  best  the  evils  springing  from 
lacerations  of  the  cervix,  and  devised  the  lasting  methods  of 
meeting  them.  In  the  days  of  his  youth  that  distressing 
lesion,  vesicovaginal  fistula,  was  at  the  fore,  and  the  begin- 
nings of  reputation  based  upon  its  cure  by  silver  wire  suture 
were  looming  above  the  horizon.  But  deep  in  the  trials  of  an 
extensive  hospital  midwifery  service  Emmet  found  the  greater 
cure  in  recognizing  the  way  to  obviate  the  evil.  He  it  was 
who  drove  it  so  upon  us  that  the  obstetrical  forceps  was  not 
the  agent  through  which  these  trying  breaches  were  produced, 
but,  in  fact,  the  agent  of  prevention,  and  that  the  prompt,  not 
delayed,  application  of  this  instrument  was  the  sure  means  of 

3i 


obviating  the  fistula;  that  sloughing,  due  to  prolonged  pressure 
of  the  foetal  head  when  long  held  in  the  lower  pelvis,  wa»>  the 
cause  of  these  false  openings,  and  therefore  that  early  appli- 
cation of  the  forceps  to  a  delayed  head  when  so  placed  was  the 
crying  need.  Had  he  done  naught  else  than  this  his  name 
would  deserve  to  go  down  to  posterity  clothed  in  lasting  honor 
and  covered  with  the  gratitude  of  all  mankind;  yet  he  did 
more  than  even  this  for  patients  suffering  motherhood,  for 
look  what  his  incomparable  work  upon  the  perineum  has  done 
for  this  same  class  of  sufferers.  In  spite  of  many  an  attempt 
to  improve  upon  the  lines  laid  down  by  him  for  repair  of  the 
perineum,  his  operation  to-day  stands  out  as  the  best  of  all. 

When  I  entered  upon  work  in  the  Department  of  Gyne- 
cology, pelvic  inflammation  was  before  us  as  an  unsolved 
problem.  The  contest  was  sharp  concerning  its  interpolation, 
and  one  of  the  most  telling  concessions  in  Emmet  cases  was 
made  when  at  the  meeting  of  the  American  Gynecological 
Society  in  Baltimore,  in  1886,  he  reviewed  the  subject,  and  said 
that  as  in  all  questions,  as  upon  a  shield,  there  were  two  sides, 
he  had  been  looking  upon  one,  while  his  opponents  looked  upon 
another ;  he  had  been  regarding  it  mainly  from  the  under  side 
of  the  pelvic  diaphragm,  while  they  had  seen  it  from  the 
upper.  But  he  laid  down  those  wise  and  conservative  rules  of 
management  which  even  the  most  radical  of  us  have  come  to 
accept  as  the  line  to  be  followed  in  most  of  the  cases  of  this 
disorder,  and  thus  it  has  come  to  pass  that  whereas  the  time 
was  when  all  inflamed  uterine  appendages  were  thought  meet 
for  sacrifice,  we  now  see  that  Emmet's  treatment  leads  the  way 
to  resolution  in  many  a  case,  and  even  if  operation  has  to  be 
done  at  last,  the  improved  conditions  permit  of  operative  con- 
servatism that  saves  many  an  ovary,  and  which  then  is  good 
reason  to  believe  may  even  further  motherhood. 

The  limits  of  such  a  speech  warn  me  the  time  to  close  this 
just  tribute  has  come,  for  there  are  others  present  impatiently 
waiting  to  do  honor  to  so  good  a  subject,  and  yet  I  cannot  stop 

32 


without  asking-,  What  of  Emmet  as  a  man  and  as  an  associate 
in  his  chosen  field  of  activity?  Would  time  permit,  I  would 
gladly  dwell  upon  the  sterling  qualities  of  head  and  heart 
which  he  has  always  exhibited  in  dealing  with  his  fellow  man. 

Have  any  of  you  ever  read  the  Fifteenth  Psalm?  *  If  not, 
turn  to  it  to-night,  and  therein  you  will  find  David's  definition 
of  a  "Gentleman,"  and  all  I  would  say  of  Dr.  Emmet,  and 
pondering  those  words  and  laying  them  beside  the  life  history 
of  this  man  you  will  realize,  as  I  do  now,  that  all  of  us  have 
honored  ourselves  by  coming  here  to-night,  for  we  have  lifted 
up  and  exalted  one  of  our  number  whose  life  is  an  embodiment 
of  that  sublimest  principle  of  earthly  life,  "  TRUTH." 

*  Latin  Vulgate  and  translation,  Psalm  XIV. 


IF  SPEAKING  TRUTH  IN  THIS  FINE  AGE  WERE  NOT  THOUGHT  FLATTERY." 

1  Henrv  IV. 

33 


"HIS  TRAINING  SUCH,  THAT  HE  MAY  FURNISH  AND  INSTRUCT  GREAT 

TEACHERS."— Henry  VIII. 


^r+  cftnmct,  ttic  CcacIjctV 


INTRODUCTION  OF  DR.  BAKER   BY   DR.  DUDLEY. 


i/VBjN 

I 

gGSS 

Ipllllll 

COULD  speak  at  length  about  Emmet  as  a 
teacher  to  whom  all  of  us  owe  much ;  but 
my  friend,  Dr.  Polk,  has  reminded  me  that 
the  function  of  a  toastmaster  is  to  keep 
the  ball  rolling,  to  keep  order,  and  to  keep 
quiet.  When  we  think  of  Emmet  as  a 
teacher  we  think  of  him  also  as  a  hospital 
chief  under  whom  we  did  not  always  lead  the  simple  life, 
unless  we  consider  the  simple  life  as  interpreted  by  our  Phila- 
delphia friends  to  be  "the  pace  that  kills."  How  familiar 
the  memory,  "  Sponge,  doctor,  sponge ;  why  don't  you  sponge  ?  " 
"Sponge  every  time  you  get  a  chance."  "Let  her  live  a 
little  longer,  will  you,  doctor?"  "I  wish  I  could  have  some 
one  who  would  assist  me  the  way  I  used  to  assist  Sims."  He 
was  a  rare  chief,  a  rare  teacher.  In  the  presence  of  his  pupils, 
"he  would  not  smile,  and  smile,  and  smile,  and  be  a  villain 
still  ";  on  the  contrary,  his  frown  was  always  recognized  as  an 
act  of  friendship.  That  pupil  is  fortunate  who  receives  his 
discipline  from  a  friend.  The  history  of  gynecology  in  New 
England  is  the  history  of  a  pupil  of  Emmet,  and  the  next 
toast,  therefore,  "  Emmet  as  a  Teacher,"  will  be  responded  to 
by  Dr.  William  H.  Baker,  of  Boston. 


«y 


LET  US  NOT  BURDEN  OUR  REMEMBRANCE  WITH  A  HEAVINESS  THAT'S 
GONE." — The  Tempest. 


35 


IN  THY  FACE  I  SEE  THE  MAP  OF  HONOUR,  TRUTH  AND  LOYALTY.'' 

2  Henry  VI. 


WM.  H.  BAKER,  M.   D. 


"WHAT,  WILL  THESE  HANDS  NEVER  BE  CLEAN?"— Othello. 
"IN  ANY  CASE,  LETTHISBE  HAVE  CLEAN  LINEN."— Midsummer-Night's  Dream. 


«%r-s£»«%r"5£»i 


DR.   BAKER'S    RESPONSE    TO   THE    TOAST, 

"&V.  (Emmet,  tyt  Ccac^cr/' 


^Sv^S 

W£SL 

ill 

iM^^s^ 

^H 

HAVE  always  esteemed  it  one  of  the 
greatest  privileges  in  my  professional 
career  to  testify  to  the  teaching  of  Dr. 
Emmet,  and  during  the  lapse  of  time  I 
have  selected  the  choicest  parts  of  my 
knowledge  which  experience  has  proved 
to  be  of  the  greatest  value,  and  have  found  myself  more  and 
more  indebted  to  the  teachings  of  our  highly  honored  friend. 
It  is  then  most  gratifying  to  me,  Mr.  Chairman,  to  respond 
to  your  call  to  speak  of  the  high  qualities  of  Dr.  Emmet  as  a 
teacher.  One  of  the  necessary  elements  of  a  successful  teacher 
is  the  possession  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  subject  taught ; 
another  and  not  less  important,  from  a  humanitarian  point  of 
view,  and  last,  the  relation  of  the  subject  taught  to  other 
branches  of  learning  of  a  more  or  less  remote  origin.  No  one 
who  had  the  good  fortune  to  listen  to  the  lectures,  to  follow 
through  the  hospital  wards,  or  assist  in  the  operating  room, 
and  thus  come  in  daily  contact  with  our  illustrious  friend,  can 
gainsay  that  he  possessed  in  an  eminent  degree  all  these  quali- 
ties, and  I  am  sure  that  I  voice  the  feelings  of  all  his  pupils 
when  I  say  that  for  originality  of  thought,  thoroughness  of 
working  out  the  principles,  as  well  as  the  ingenuity  and  skill 
shown  in  the  practical  application  of  such  principles,  Dr. 
Emmet's  work  was  preeminent. 

39 


It  is  impossible  to  estimate  the  enormous  value  and  extent 
of  his  influence  as  a  teacher  through  the  various  channels  of 
instruction  given  by  his  pupils,  who  have  and  are  still  holding 
the  highest  positions  in  medical  schools  of  this  and  other 
countries. 

His  literary  work  also  is  a  most  important  factor  of 
instruction. 

In  these  strenuous  days,  when  we  are  accustomed  to  gain 
quick  results  by  carrying  out  many  of  the  teachings  of  our 
early  and  faithful  instructor,  we  sometimes  forget  the  laborious 
toil  and  patient  persevering  work  which  he  expended  before 
he  perfected  the  application  which  led  to  the  adoption  of  his 
methods.  Nor  can  the  thousands  of  women  who  are  now  being 
cured  all  over  the  world  realize  how  much  they  owe  in  their 
recovery  to  the  teaching  of  Dr.  Emmet ;  but  we  of  the  medical 
profession  know  and  most  gratefully  acknowledge  to  him  all 
honor  in  this  direction. 

As  an  illustration  of  his  individual  perseverance,  I  recall 
his  joy,  when  visiting  the  hospital  one  day,  in  telling  me  of  a 
bedridden  case  which,  after  nine  years  of  persistent  work,  he 
had  finally  cured ;  and  again  I  had  the  pleasure  of  assisting  him 
at  an  operation  in  plastic  surgery,  which  was  the  twenty- sixth 
performed  under  ether  upon  this  one  patient  for  the  same 
trouble,  and  which  resulted  in  her  cure. 

How  many  of  us  possess  such  a  degree  of  patience?  or, 
again,  how  many  of  us  could  keep  our  patient  through  such  a 
course  of  treatment  ?  Yet,  from  such  cases  as  these  I  learned 
the  lesson  of  never  yielding  to  defeat,  when  sure  of  the  right 
treatment. 

Thirty-three  years  ago  the  casual  observer  paid  but  little 
heed  to  the  teachings  of  Dr.  Emmet  in  regards  to  the  impor- 
tance of  cleanliness  in  surgery,  both  of  the  operator  and  patient, 
and  it  was  not  until  the  importance  of  the  deleterious  effects 
upon  surgical  wounds,  by  the  disregard  of  such  teaching,  as 
proved  by  the  theories  of  Pasteur,  that  the  profession  was  ready 

40 


to  accept  and  adopt  such,  teaching  and  practices.  Yet,  I  ask 
you  to-day,  looking  back  over  that  period  of  time  and  recalling 
the  preparation  of  patients  for  plastic  surgery  by  Dr.  Emmet's 
instruction,  which  consisted  in  the  hot-water  douches,  which  T 
heard  at  that  time  characterized  as  "boiling  the  patient,"  and 
again  in  following  his  method  in  the  preparation  of  the  oper- 
ator, by  scrubbing  the  hands  and  arms  with  soap  and  hot  water, 
I  repeat  and  ask  you  to-day,  how  much  short  of  your  accepted 
technique  does  the  teaching  of  Dr.  Emmet  leave  you  ? 

I  am  glad  to  see  on  yonder  Cathedral  Heights  the  stones 
being  laid  for  the  new  hospital  building;  yet  its  foundation 
cannot  be  stronger  than  the  principles  which  Dr.  Emmet  has 
taught  us,  and  its  superstructure,  with  all  its  utility  and  ele- 
gance, must  always  remain  a  memorial  to  his  life  work  and 
teaching. 

And  now,  my  beloved  teacher  and  friend,  I  congratulate 
you  on  this  your  anniversary  day,  upon  that  which  has 
gone  before,  and  upon  the  present  honorable  and  festive 
occasion.  That  the  crowning  years  of  your  life  may  be  full  of 
peace,  joy,  happiness,  and  a  just  recognition  of  the  highest 
appreciation  of  your  profession,  and  that  your  heart  will  be 
filled  with  our  love,  is  the  wish  of  us  all. 


"I  WEIGH  MY  FRIEND'S  AFFECTION  WITH   MINE  OWX."— Timon  of  Athens. 

41 


"I  THANK  GOD  AND  THEE;  HE  WAS  THE  AUTHOR,  THOU  THE 
INSTRUMENT."— 3  Henry  VI. 


"C§bh*J*c§fr*J 


T&t.  «£mmet,  ttye  ^eDtcal  author*" 


INTRODUCTION    OF    DR.    GORDON    BY 
DR.    DUDLEY. 


O  man  is  in  a  stronger  position  than  Dr. 
Gordon  to  prophesy  that  when  the  fog  and 
smoke  and  haze  of  the  literature  of  gyne- 
cology clears  away,  no  matter  how  distant 
the  past,  Emmet's  writings,  Emmet's  book 
on  ' '  The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Gyne- 
cology," will  stand  out  as  a  star  of  the  first 
magnitude,  shining,  not  by  pale  reflection,  but  by  its  own  light. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  Grant's  "Memoirs  of  the  Civil 
War,"  written  with  almost  superhuman  fortitude  in  the  face 
of  fatal  disease,  was  received  by  the  critics  as  an  example  of 
strong,  terse,  clear  English  composition.  A  single  adverse 
criticism  appeared  from  the  pen  of  a  professor  of  rhetoric,  the 
review  of  a  critical  rhetorician  of  the  work  of  a  constructive 
rhetorician.  The  professor  took  exception  to  Grant's  writing 
because  in  some  respects  he  thought  it  did  not  conform  to 
conventional  standards  of  English  composition.  Mark  Twain 
reviewed  the  review  in  words  somewhat  as  follows:  "If  we 
should  climb  the  Matterhorn  and  find  strawberries  growing  on 
top,  we  might  be  surprised  and  gratified ;  but,  great  God,  we 
do  not  climb  the  Matterhorn  for  strawberries."  Dr.  Gordon, 
of  Portland,  Maine. 


^§fr*J*G%**J 


THE  STRAWBERRY  GROWS  UNDERNEATH  THE  NETTLE. "-Henry  V. 

43 


HERE  IS  A  MAN— BUT— 'TIS  BEFORE  HIS  FACE;  I  WILL  BE  SILENT.'' 

Troilus  and  Cressida. 


S.  C.  GORDON,  M.  D. 


HERE  IS  MY  HAND.— AND  MINE,  WITH  MY  HEART  IN  'T."— The  Tempest. 


DR.   GORDON'S   RESPONSE   TO  THE  TOAST, 

"  l®x.  (Emmet,  t^c  Metrical  Author/' 


R.  TOASTMASTER  AND  FRIENDS  :  I 
came  from  the  far  North,  where,  as  some 
speaker  has  said,  the  moon  is  hung  with 
icicles  and  where  it  looks  no  larger  than  a 
dinner  plate.  That  same  moon  which  smiles 
upon  Florida  and  Louisiana  may  look  colder 
in  Maine,  but  it  is  just  as  large  to  us  as  to  the  people  of 
warmer  climes.  I  have  lived  in  both  latitudes  and  know 
whereof  I  speak.  And  while  we  may,  as  Mark  Twain  may 
have  said,  have  nine  months  of  winter  and  three  months 
late  in  the  fall,  yet  I  bring  to  our  old  friend  Dr.  Emmet, 
to-night,  just  as  warm  a  heart  and  just  as  hearty  a  grasp 
of  the  hand  as  the  sons  of  the  Southland.  I  extend  to 
him,  in  behalf  of  the  profession  of  the  North,  the  most 
cordial  congratulations  on  this  his  seventy-seventh  birthday. 
Many  of  us  were  his  pupils  to  a  greater  or  less  degree,  and 
we  have  kept  a  warm  place  in  our  hearts  for  him  as  a 
teacher.  If  I  may  be  allowed,  for  a  moment,  to  depart  from 
the  spirit  of  the  sentiment,  permit  me  to  say  that  I,  in  company 
with  Dr.  Tewksbur5T  of  my  city,  made  frequent  visits  to  the 
Woman's  Hospital  in  the  eighth  decade  of  the  last  century, 
and  day  after  day  sat  at  Dr.  Emmet's  feet,  like  Saul  at  the 
feet  of  Gamaliel,  and  learned  wisdom  at  his  lips,  while  we 
watched  that  careful,  systematic  detail  of  his  plastic  operations, 

47 


performed  in  a  manner  that  no  man  excelled  and  few  equaled. 
It  was  this  strict  attention  to  details  that  pervades  everything 
that  he  ever  wrote.  His  work,  "  The  Principles  and  Practice  of 
Gynecology, "  is  but  a  faithful  record  of  his  daily  clinical  work, 
written  in  a  manner  that  the  merest  tyro  in  medicine  could 
fully  comprehend.  There  was  nothing  omitted  from  the  book 
that  was  done  in  the  Woman's  Hospital  or  in  his  private  prac- 
tice. It  is  the  model  upon  which  all  treatises  on  gynecology 
have  been  based,  and  few  of  the  modern  text-books  contain 
much  that  is  new,  except  in  the  illustrations. 

If  everything  was  not  fully  developed  it  was  predicted,  and 
the  predictions  are  not  far  behind  the  fulfillment.  I  remember 
so  well  long  ago,  when  the  brilliant  and  fascinating  lecturer, 
T.  Gaillard  Thomas,  was  revising  his  book,  I  was  driving  with 
him  one  day  while  he  was  making  some  drawings  illustrative 
of  the  operation  for  complete  laceration  of  the  perineum 
through  the  sphincter  ani,  and  I  was  admiring  it,  he  said :  ' '  Oh, 
that  is  all  Emmet;  I  was  simply  copying  him."  These  were 
the  days  when  the  giants  in  gynecology  were  in  their  glory : 
the  learned  Peaslee,  the  greatest  American  pathologist  of  his 
day;  the  indefatigable  and  dogmatic  Bozeman,  who  did  most 
excellent  work,  and  a  little  later  the  lovely  and  loved  Lee. 

But  the  careful  painstaking  work  embodied  in  the  "Prin- 
ciples and  Practice"  of  our  guest  to-night  will  forever  remain 
as  the  one  to  which  we  shall  all  turn  as  the  classic  in  this 
department  of  medical  knowledge  and  science. 

If  I  were  to  sum  up  briefly  my  estimate  of  Dr.  Emmet  as 
a  medical  writer,  it  would  be  somewhat  in  this  way.  Some- 
where in  his  book  he  says :  "As  I  advance  in  life  I  place  a 
much  lower  estimate  on  the  common  sense  of  the  average 
individual."  Taking  this  as  a  text,  I  would  say  that,  with  an 
honest,  intelligent  earnestness  of  purpose,  he  combined  an 
indefatigable  industry  in  an  unbounded  field  of  clinical  ma- 
terial, and,  carefully  discriminating,  recorded  the  results  of  that 
industry  in  the  most  simple  common  sense  style.      Wherever 

48 


gynecology  is  known  or  taught,  there  is  Emmet's  book,  and 
will  ever  be  as  one  of  the  foundation  stones  of  the  science.  It 
is  a  monument  to  him  more  significant  than  brass  or  marble. 
There  was  no  attempt  at  rhetorical  effort,  no  exaggerated 
descriptions  of  symptoms  or  technic,  no  reports  of  results  that 
would  challenge  criticism  nor  engender  skepticism,  but  a  plain 
statement  of  the  causes,  symptoms,  and  treatment,  that  com- 
mends itself  to  the  student  of  gynecology  throughout  the 
civilized  world. 

This  assembly  to-night,  composed  of  all  classes  of  medical 
men,  voices  the  general  sentiment  of  thousands  who  cannot 
be  present,  but  who  wish  you  all  that  life  can  possibly  give 
you.  A  short  time  before  the  death  of  Pope  Leo  XIII  one  of 
his  cardinals  called  upon  him,  and  on  bidding  him  good-by 
said :  ' '  Holy  Father,  I  hope  you  may  live  to  be  a  hundred  years 
old;  "  to  which  he  replied,  "  My  son,  why  limit  me?  " 

So,  bidding  you  good-night,  I  will  not  limit  you  in  years, 
but  will  assure  you  of  the  best  wishes  of  all  present  and  a  hope 
that  you  may  live  just  so  long  as  you  can  fully  enjoy  both  peace 
of  mind  and  comfort  of  body. 


"I  CAN  NOT  GIVE  THEE  LESS,  TO  BE  CALL'D  GRATEFUL." 

All's  Well  That  Ends  Well. 

49 


"A  COMFORT  OP  RETIREMENT  LIVES  IN  THIS."— 1  Henry  IV. 


©r.  (Emmet,  tyz  litterateur:' 


DR.    DUDLEY'S    INTRODUCTION    OF    HIS    GRACE, 
THE   ARCHBISHOP    OF    NEW    YORK. 


| EN,  like  trees,  may  die  at  the  top,  but  not 
so  with  our  friend.  Having-  laid  aside  the 
labors  of  surgery,  he  has  become  the  scholar 
and  the  man  of  affairs,  broad  enough  to  look 
beyond  the  narrow  confines  of  his  calling, 
to  appreciate  the  relations  of  things  out- 
side ;  he  puts  his  profession  on  a  high  plane,  but  he  puts  the 
world  higher. 

If  we  would  not  die  at  the  top,  we  must  not  surrender  to 
the  sordidness  and  discontent  of  old  age,  but,  forgetful  of  self, 
we  must  cultivate  larger  interests,  and  so,  like  our  friend,  we 
may  gladden  the  world,  and  even  though  we  shall  become  the 
last  leaf  on  the  tree,  having  survived  the  winter's  blast  to  the 
second  spring,  we  may  be,  not  seared  and  yellow,  but  still 
green  and  filled  with  the  fire  and  enthusiasm  of  youth.  Some 
years  ago  when  Froude  visited  the  United  States,  and  when  at 
the  same  time  Canon  Kingsley  was  so  much  in  evidence,  an 
Irish  poet  gave  forth  the  following  couplets : 

"Froude  informs  the  Scottish  youth 

That  parsons  have  no  care  for  truth; 
While  Canon  Kingsley  loudly  cries, 

That  history  is  a  pack  of  lies. 
What  cause  for  discord  so  malign? 

A  little  thought  would  solve  the  mystery; 
Froude  thinks  Kingsley  a  divine, 

While  Kingsley  goes  to  Froude  for  history." 

51 


We  know  that  the  Archbishop  with  all  confidence  may  go 
to  Emmet  for  history  as  we  may  call  upon  the  Archbishop, 
not  only  for  theology,  but  as  well  for  an  estimate  of  his 
friend,  "  Emmet  as  a  Litterateur."  I  therefore  have  the  honor 
of  introducing  His  Grace,  The  Most  Reverend  John  Farley, 
Archbishop  of  New  York,  whose  literary  mind  has  withstood 
the  shock  of  a  theological  education. 


'THAT'S  NOT  AN  OFFICE  FOR  A  FRIEND."— Julius  C^sar. 

52 


THAT  SAME  NOBLE  PRELATE,  WELL  BELOVED,  THE  ARCHBISHOP." 

1  Henry  IV. 


THE  MOST  REV.  ARCHBISHOP  FARLEY 


'THIS  IS  ABOUT  THAT  WHICH  THE  BISHOP  SPOKE. "-Henry  VIII. 


REMARKS    OF    ARCHBISHOP    FARLEY. 


R.  CHAIRMAN  AND  GENTLEMEN:  I 
believe  that  I  am  the  only  layman  pres- 
ent, the  only  person  not  a  physician,  a  fact 
which  only  adds  to  the  happiness  I  feel  in 
rising-  to  pay  my  humble  but  heartfelt  trib- 
ute to  your  eminent  guest  and  my  friend 
of  many  years — Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  the  Litterateur. 

What  he  has  accomplished  in  his  chosen  field  and  in  the 
profession,  at  the  head  of  which  he  has  stood  for  more  than  a 
generation,  as  you  gentlemen  are  here  to  testify,  were  more 
than  sufficient  to  render  illustrious  the  life  of  any  one  man,  and 
to  win  for  him  a  deathless  memory  among  his  colleagues,  and 
to  earn  for  him  the  largest  measure  of  that  distinction  which 
Ecclesiasticus  warns  us  to  bestow  on  the  least  of  the  members 
of  your  noble  profession,  when  he  says:  "  Honor  the  physician 
for  the  need  thou  hast  of  him.  His  skill  shall  lift  up  his  head, 
and  in  the  sight  of  great  men  he  shall  be  praised." 

But,  full  as  has  been  his  life  of  purely  professional  work, 
he  has  found  time  to  devote  to  literature  and  to  historic  re- 
search, in  which  he  has  been  so  successful  that  I  question  if 
there  are  not  many  who,  if  choice  were  given,  would  as  gladly 
be  credited  with  the  authorship  of  his  purely  literary  work,  as 
of  the  medical  and  surgical  labors  which  have  placed  him  where 
he  stands  to-night,  the  leading  physician  of  the  land. 

It  were  too  long,  however  pleasing  a  task,  to  review  here 
and  now  all  that  has  come  from  his  facile  and  fruitful  pen. 

55 


Besides  being  the  author  of  numerous  papers  and  ad- 
dresses in  connection  with  the  history  of  Ireland  and  of  Jdiis, 
his  own  country,  he  has  left  us  two  books  by  which  his  name 
shall  always  be  remembered :  ' '  The  Emmet  Family,  With 
Some  Incidents  Relating  to  Irish  History,"  a  voluminous  work 
issued  in  1898;  and  "Ireland  Under  English  Rule,  or  a  Plea 
for  the  Plaintiff,"  published  in  1902. 

The  former,  "The  Emmet  Family,"  has  been  pronounced 
a  model,  and  the  most  complete  family  history  ever  written. 
The  exhaustive  story  it  contains  of  Dr.  Emmet's  father  gives 
rise  to  the  question  in  the  mind  of  the  reader,  as  to  what  one 
should  admire  more — the  pure  and  lofty  character  of  the  elder 
Emmet  so  vividly  portrayed,  or  the  affection  which  prompted 
this  labor  of  love  and  of  legitimate  pride  on  the  part  of  a 
devoted  son. 

The  work  of  Dr.  Emmet,  however,  which  has  naturally 
attracted  most  attention  is  "Ireland  Under  English  Rule." 
Perhaps  more  than  any  other  of  his  writings,  this  book  seems 
to  show  his  wondrous  versatility  of  intellect,  and  that,  while 
physicians  may  hail  him  as  their  leader,  he  was  easily  -master 
of  many  things  having  little  affinity  with  his  life's  work. 

An  American  born,  bearing  in  his  veins  the. tide  of  Ire- 
land's best  blood  on  which  nothing  could  long  float  that  is  tnot 
freighted  with  the  love  of  that  fair  land,  he  has  shown  in  this 
work  in  what  light  men  of  Irish  faith  and  Irish  ancestry  must 
ever  regard  the  part  England  has  played  for  centuries  in  the 
misgovernment  of  Ireland.  While  noblesse  oblige  is  the  legend 
one  reads  between  the  lines  of  every  page  of  the  "Plea  for  the 
Plaintiff,"  the  leading  incentive  in  writing  this  history  was, 
doubtless,  to  lay  bare  the  truth  to  those  whom  it  most  con- 
cerns— the  people  of  Ireland  themselves.  Over  nine  hundred 
volumes,  the  learned  author  has  told  me,  were  consulted  in  the 
composition  of  this  monumental  work. 

It  may  fairly  be  claimed  for  Dr.  Emmet's  labor  in  this 
history  that  he  has  probably  pronounced  the  last  word  on  the 

56 


subject  which  can  be  said  to  the  purpose  in  this  generation. 
His  conclusions  are  that  England  will  one  day  do  penance  for 
her  misrule  in  Ireland,  and  "  sue  to  be  forgiven" ;  and  that  the 
Irish  people  must  be  united  and  patient,  as  the  outlook  for 
Erin  in  the  near  future  was  never  brighter. 

But  I  must  close.  .  .  .  Mr.  Chairman,  I  thank  you  for 
the  honor  of  your  invitation  to  speak  to  the  toast  so  much  after 
my  own  heart,  how  poorly  soever  I  have  responded ;  I  thank 
you,  gentlemen,  for  your  patient  and  courteous  hearing,  and 
permit  me  to  greet  you,  sir,  our  guest,  the  noblest  Roman  of 
them  all,  with  heart  and  soul  in  the  greeting,  ad  multos, 
permultos  annos. 


"GOD  BLESS  YOUR  GRACE  WITH  HEALTH  AND  HAPPY  DAYS."— Richard  III. 

57 


"  HE  IS  MY  VERY  GOOD  FRIEND,  AND  AN  HONOURABLE  GENTLEMAN." 

Timon  of  Athens. 


©r.  (Emmet,  ttye  tfrfenD/' 


INTRODUCTION     BY    DR.     DUDLEY    OF 
DR.  GEORGE  T.  HARRISON. 


HY  can't  we  make  friends  like  Emmet  ? 
The  answer  is  clear:  There  is  only  one 
Emmet.  I  have  great  pleasure  in  intro- 
ducing Dr.  Harrison,  a  friend  who  knows 
all  about  us  and  still  likes  us,  who  has 
something  more  than  a  capacity,  who  has 
a  genius  for  friendship — 

"If  thou  are  at  Friendship's  sacred  ca', 
Wad  life  itself  resign,  mon  ? 
4  This  were  a  kinsman  o'  thy  ane, 

For  'Emmet'  is  a  true  mon." 

I  present  Dr.  George  T.  Harrison,  of  New  York. 


MY  VERY  WORTHY  COUSIN."-Measure  for  Measure. 

59 


WHO   HATH   A  STORY  READY   FOR  YOUR  EAR."— Measure  for  Measure. 


GEORGE  T.  HARRISON.  M.  D. 


"  HE'S  A  LEARNED  MAN."-Henry  VIII. 


DR.    HARRISON'S    RESPONSE    TO    THE    TOAST, 

"  ©r.  €mmet5  t^c  fivicnb." 


T  is  with  peculiar  pleasure  that  I  rise  to 
respond  to  this  toast,  for  it  is  redolent  of 
many  sweet  memories.  There  is  no  word 
in  the  English  language  that  has  suffered 
such  abuse  in  its  mode  of  application  as 
the  term  ' '  friend. "  In  its  true  signification 
and  proper  use,  however,  there  is  none  that  evokes  more  tender 
and  touching  associations. 

Says  St.  Augustine:  "The  friendship  of  men  is  dearly 
sweet  by  the  union  of  many  souls  together." 

Sailust  declares  that  to  live  in  friendship  is  to  have  the 
same  desires  and  the  same  aversions;  "idem  velle  et  idem 
nolle,  ea  demun  firma  amicitia  est."  It  has  been  happily 
said  there  can  be  no  friendship  without  confidence,  and  no  confi- 
dence without  integrity.  Many  men  are  absolutely  incapable 
of  friendship. 

As  Dr.  Johnson  remarks :  "So  many  qualities  are  in- 
deed required  to  the  possibility  of  friendship,  and  so  many 
accidents  must  concur  to  its  rise  and  its  continuance,  that  the 
greatest  part  of  mankind  content  themselves  without  it,  and 
supply  its  place  as  they  can,  with  interest  and  dependence." 
It  has  been  reckoned  as  one  of  the  many  claims  to  our  admira- 
tion on  the  part  of  that  ornament  of  the  Elizabethan  age,  Sir 
Philip  Sidney,  that  he  was  famous  for  inviolable  friendship. 
When  Socrates,  it  is  narrated,  was  building  himself  a  house 

63 


at  Athens,  being  asked  by  one  that  observed  the  littleness  of 
the  design,  why  a  man  so  eminent  would  not  have  an  a&ode 
more  suitable  to  his  dignity,  he  replied  that  he  should  think 
himself  sufficiently  accommodated  if  he  could  see  that  narrow 
habitation  filled  with  real  friends. 

By  which  words,  I  take  it,  the  great  philosopher  simply 
wished  to  discriminate  between  his  true  friends  and  the 
vast  multitudes  who  thronged  around  him  attracted  by  idle 
curiosity  or  other  ignoble  motives.  The  comparison  made  by 
La  Fontain  between  love  and  friendship  is  as  true  as  it 
is  beautiful :  ' '  Love  is  the  shadow  of  the  morning  which 
decreases  as  the  day  advances;  friendship  is  the  shadow  of 
the  morning  which  strengthens  with  the  setting  sun  of  life." 

It  is  the  singular  good  fortune  of  our  honored  guest  of  the 
evening  that  he  has  realized  the  words  of  wisdom  spoken  by 
Polonius  to  Laertes : 

"  The  friends  thou  hast  and  their  adoption  tried, 
Grapple  them  to  thy  soul  with  hooks  of  steel." 

Let  me  call  the  muster  roll  of  the  alumni  of  the  Woman's 
Hospital,  and  sure  I  am  that  if  the  question  were  asked  what 
name  rises  first  on  the  lips,  in  recalling  their  most  delightful 
experiences  during  their  pupilage  in  that  noble  institution, 
the  answer  would  come  back  with  one  voice — Thomas  Addis 
Emmet. 

The  reason  is  not  far  to  seek,  because  the  name  is  a  syno- 
nym of  perfect  integrity  and  exalted  character.  And  while 
to-night  all  here  assembled  unite  to  crown  him  with  laurel  for 
the  splendor  of  his  scientific  achievement,  it  is  especially  as 
the  friend  that  we  salute  him  and  lay  at  his  feet  the  offering  of 
our  love,  esteem,  and  reverence. 


NEITHER  DO  I  LABOUR  FOR  A  GREATER  ESTEEM.  "-As  You  Like  It. 

64 


CONSIDER  YOU  WHAT  SERVICES  HE  HAS  DONE  FOR  HIS  COUNTRY?" 

Coriolanus. 


^gr 


©r.  (Cmmet,  t^e  patriot 


INTRODUCTION    OF    DR.    QUINLAN 
BY    DR.    DUDLEY. 


HE  next  speaker  is  eminently  qualified  to  tell 
us  of  the  most  worthy  representative  of  the 
young  patriot  who,  dying,  said:  "Let  no 
man      write     my      epitaph     until      Ireland      is 


free."      Dr.    Quinlan,    of   New   York. 


HE  HATH  DESERVED  WORTHILY  OF  HIS  COUNTRY."— Coriolanus. 

65 


EVERY  MAN   HAS  HIS  FAULT,  AND  HONESTY  IS  HIS. "— Timon  of  Athens. 


F.  J.  QUTMLAN,  M.   D. 


'NOW  FOR  OUR  IRISH  WARS:  WE  MUST  SUPPLANT  THOSE  ROUGH 
RUG-HEADED  KERNS."— Richard  II. 


syg 


DR.  QUINLAN'S  RESPONSE  TO  THE  TOAST, 

©r.  (Emmet,  t^e  patriot/' 


(( 


HAVE  been  requested  to  say  a  few  words 
in  response  to  the  toast — 

"Doctor  Emmet,  the  Patriot." 
I  feel  that  any  words  of  mine  on  such  a 
theme  must  indeed  be  superfluous,  since 
it  is  an  historical  fact  well  known  to  all  my 
professional  brethren  here  to-night  that  the  name  of  Emmet 
stands  for  all  that  is  highest  and  holiest  in  the  sacred  cause  of 
patriotism.  The  truest  test  of  exalted  love  of  country  is 
tersely  expressed  in  the  words  of  the  old  Roman  maxim — 
"Pro  patria  mori. "  And  who  does  not  know  the  history  of 
that  noble  hero,  that  close  kinsman  of  our  distinguished  and 
revered  guest,  who  sacrificed  his  young  life  in  his  country's 
behalf  ?  His  name  and  his  deeds  are  on  the  lips  of  every 
schoolboy,  and  his  pathetic  history  is  embalmed  forever  in  the 
immortal  lines  of  Erin's  best  beloved  bard — Thomas  Moore. 
Who  of  us  has  not  paid  the  tribute  of  his  tears  and  his  heart- 
felt admiration  to  the  patriot  hero — Robert  Emmet,  that  noble 
scion  of  a  noble  race  ? 

No  more  convincing  testimony  to  the  patriotism  of  the 
Emmet  family  could  be  produced  than  the  following  eloquent 
words  of  the  youthful  patriot  himself:  "If  the  spirits  of  the 
illustrious  dead  participate  in  the  concerns  and  cares  of  those 

69 


dear  to  them  in  this  transitory  life,  O  ever  dear  and  venerated 
shade  of  my  departed  father,  look  down  with  scrutiny  u^on 
the  conduct  of  thy  suffering  son,  and  see  if  I  have  ever 
for  a  moment  deviated  from  those  principles  of  morality  and 
patriotism  which  it  was  thy  care  to  instill  into  my  youthful 
mind,  and  for  which  I  am  now  to  offer  up  my  life." 

Perhaps  it  may  not  be  so  well  known  to  all  here  that  a 
namesake  of  our  honored  guest,  another  Thomas  Addis  Emmet, 
a  brother  of  Robert,  proved  his  patriotism  by  enduring  the 
horrors  and  humiliation  of  a  long  imprisonment  for  the  holy 
cause.  Indeed,  were  it  not  for  this  love  of  country,  so  character- 
istic of  the  Emmets,  it  is  quite  possible  that  our  guest  would 
not  be  with  us  to-night.  For  his  ancestor  and  namesake, 
accused  of  conspiracy  and  driven  from  his  native  land,  joined 
that  grand  army  of  worthy  Irishmen  who,  forced  by  English 
tyranny  to  leave  their  beloved  fatherland,  sought  a  home  and  a 
refuge  in  this  land  of  the  free,  and  who  by  their  brains  and 
their  brawn  have  contributed  more  than  any  other  nation  to  the 
mental  and  material  development  of  our  glorious  country. 

The  patriotic  spirit  which  distinguished  the  Emmets  in  the 
old  land  did  not  fail  to  assert  itself  in  the  new,  and  so  we  find 
the  same  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  commanding  an  Irish  regiment 
in  the  war  of  1812,  and  his  eldest  son,  the  late  Judge  Robert 
Emmet,  at  the  same  time  a  captain  in  a  cavalry  regiment,  and 
the  third  son,  Lieut.  Temple  Emmet,  served  under  Decatur  in 
the  navy,  all  of  whom  warmly  espoused  the  cause  of  their 
adopted  country. 

Dr.  John  Patten  Emmet,  the  father  of  our  guest  and  also 
Irish  by  birth,  entered  the  United  States  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point  about  the  same  time  to  fit  himself  for  a  military 
career,  but  after  a  few  years  was  compelled  by  ill  health  to 
abandon  the  strenuous  profession  of  arms  for  the  more  peace- 
ful, though  not  less  heroic,  profession  of  medicine.  Here  the 
Emmets  lay  aside  the  sword  as  the  instrument  of  their  patriot- 
ism for  that  mightier  and  more  potent  weapon,  the  pen.      The 

70 


o 


profound  erudition  and  marvelous  versatility  of  John  Patten 
Emmet  were  recognized  by  no  less  distinguished  an  authority 
than  the  great  Thomas  Jefferson,  President  of  the  United 
States,  who  honored  him  with  the  professorship  of  Natural 
History,  and  afterwards  of  Chemistry  and  Materia  Medica,  in 
the  celebrated  University  of  Virginia,  of  which  Jefferson  was 
the  founder. 

It  was  at  this  period  in  his  distinguished  father's  career 
that  our  honored  guest  was  born  at  Charlottesville,  Virginia. 
How  eminently  worthy  to  hand  down  the  noble  heritage  of 
patriotism,  learning,  practical  philanthropy,  and  professional 
skill,  he  has  proved  himself  by  his  own  high  achievements,  the 
preceding  speakers  have  eloquently  informed  us. 

I  shall  mention  but  a  few  of  the  many  practical  proofs  of 
his  love  for  the  land  of  his  forefathers,  for  whose  betterment 
he  has  been  ever  ready  to  labor  ardently,  to  write  eloquently, 
and  to  contribute  generously.  He  was  one  of  the  Mansion 
House  Committee,  which  was  the  custodian,  and  called  to- 
gether the  great  relief  committees  during  the  early  seventies, 
which  sent  many  thousands  of  dollars  to  the  famine-stricken 
populations  of  Ireland,  thus  saving  many  from  the  horrors  of 
starvation  and  death.  He  was  an  early  member  of  the  Hoff- 
man House  Committee  to  aid  Parnell,  and  was  afterwards 
president  for  about  eight  years  of  the  Irish  National  Federation 
of  America,  where  he  was  instrumental  in  collecting  and  for- 
warding large  sums  of  money  for  the  use  of  the  National  cause 
and  to  forward  the  Home  Rule  movement. 

He  has  in  many  instances  proved  himself  a  gallant  knight 
of  the  pen,  ever  ready  to  enter  the  lists  in  defense  of  his  beloved 
Erin.  In  his  articles,  "Ireland — Past,  Present,  and  Future"; 
' '  Irish  Emigration  During  the  Seventeenth  and  Eighteenth 
Centuries,"  a  paper  read  before  the  American  Irish  Historical 
Society;  "England's  Destruction  of  Ireland's  Manufactories, 
Commerce,  and  Population,"  a  public  address  delivered  at  the 
Cooper  Union ;    ' '  Why  Ireland    Has    Never  Prospered  Under 

7i 


English  Rule, "  a  magazine  article;  "The  Emmet  Family, With 
Some  Incidents  Relating  to  Irish  History,  Etc.,"  a  work  of  over 
four  hundred  pages,  which  has  been  judged  to  be  the  best 
family  history  ever  written;  and  recently,  "Ireland  Under 
English  Rule,  Etc.,"  in  two  volumes,  a  work  which  has  already 
been  accepted  as  an  authority,  together  with  other  papers  and 
addresses,  all  of  which  plead  Ireland's  wrongs  to  the  world  with 
an  eloquent  cogency  born  of  the  most  ardent  patriotism. 

It  is  eminently  fitting,  therefore,  that  we  do  honor  to-night 
Dr.  Emmet  as  a  patriot,  whose  lofty  love  of  country  is  worthy 
to  rank  with  those  other  brilliant  qualities  and  notable  achieve- 
ments in  the  medical  profession,  which  place  him  in  the 
foremost  rank  of  humanity's  greatest  benefactor. 


"DISDAIN  AND  DISCORD  SHALL  BESTREW  THE  UNION.    .    .     .    "-The  Tempest. 

72 


"HE  WAS  FAMOUS,  SIR,  IN  HIS  PROFESSION.  "—All's  Well  That  Ends  Well. 


INTRODUCTION    BY    DR.    DUDLEY    OF 
SIR    WILLIAM    HINGSTON. 


HERE  is  a  unanimous  call  for  a  few 
words  from  the  great  surgeon  of  Canada — 
Sir  William  Hingston. 


WELCOME,     .     .     .     TO  THIS  BRAVE  TOWN  OF  YORK."— 3  Henry  VI. 

73 


I   KNOW  THE  GENTLEMAN  TO  BE  OF  WORTH."— Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 


SIR  WM.  HINGSTON 


"THE  PUREST  TREASURE  MORTAL  TIMES  AFFORD  IS  SPOTLESS 
REPUTATION."— Richard  II. 


r**$4»nc§£]h*j 


SIR  WILLIAM   HINGSTON'S   RESPONSE. 


jT  was  a  pleasure  and  a  privilege  for  me  to 
accept  the  invitation  extended  to  me  by 
your  committee  to  be  present  at  this  dinner 
to  honor  Dr.  Emmet,  as,  apart  from  the 
reverence  I  hold  for  his  scientific  work,  to 
know  him  was  to  love  and  respect  him.  In 
traveling  over  Europe  I  have  found  that  no 
name  was  so  frequently  mentioned  in  continental  clinics  as  that 
of  Emmet.  This  was  true  not  only  in  the  larger  cities,  but 
even  in  the  smaller  university  towns.  Practical  gynecologists 
thought  no  encomium  too  high  to  pay  to  his  worth  as  a  man 
and  surgeon.  Personal  friends  of  his,  living  in  the  same  city 
with  him,  know  that  he  well  deserves  the  expression  which 
the  French  inhabitants  of  Canada  sometimes  use  with  regard 
to  one  whom  they  thoroughly  respect — "He  is  white  all 
through" — "II  est  blanc  partout. "  It  is  not  his  books — and 
they  are  most  valuable — nor  his  many  important  methods 
of  treatment  and  operations,  which  have  counted  most  in 
Emmet's  honorable  career.  But  it  is  the  example  of  his 
sterling  honesty  in  his  professional  life,  and  in  the  fact  that  he 
was  never  addicted  to  the  doing  of  anything  small  or  petty. 

Never  did  he  do  an  operation  for  the  sake  of  doing  it,  nor 
for  the  eclat  or  profit  to  which  its  successful  performance  might 
bring  to  him. 

77 


With  regard  to  one  operation  which  has  been  much  vulgar- 
ized in  recent  years,  Dr.  Emmet  once  said  to  me  that  he  would 
rather  a  few  women  should  have  suffered  without  alleviation 
than  that  so  many  should  have  been  operated  upon  without 
reason  and  without  necessity,  and  that  he  would  almost  prefer 
not  to  have  been  the  originator  of  the  operation.  In  Canada, 
Dr.  Emmet  is  held  in  as  high  estimation  as  in  his  native 
country,  and  the  tribute  of  respect  meted  out  to  him  here  fairly 
represents  the  feeling  of  the  profession  across  the  line. 


WE  KNOW  HIM  FOR  NO  LESS,  THOUGH  WE  ARE  BUT  STRANGERS  TO  HIM.  ' 

Timon  of  Athens. 

78 


"'TIS  MY  PICTURE:  REFUSE  IT  NOT;  IT  HATH  NO  TONGUE  TO  VEX  YOU." 

Twelfth  Night. 


THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET.  M.  D. 


"HIS  HEALTH  WAS  NEVER  BETTER  WORTH  THAN  NOW."-l  Henry IV. 


INTRODUCTION    OF    DR.    EMMET 
BY  DR.   DUDLEY. 


HERE  is,  perhaps,  a  question  as  to  whether 
it  is  good  form  for  one  to  drink  to  his  own 
health.  Let  us,  however,  propose  the  health 
of  our  beloved  leader  in  such  a  way  that  he 
will  have  to  join  us: 

When  we  are  seventy-seven,  may  we, 
mentally,  morally,  and  physically,  stand  as  straight  as  he 
does  now. 

[Dr.  Emmet's  response  will  be  found  in  the  public  report, 
and  to  avoid  repetition  it  is  not  given  here.] 


fw  m 

isi 

ksbh 

"I  THANK  YOU:  I  AM  NOT  OF  MANY  WORDS,  BUT  1  THANK  YOU." 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 

81 


'HOW  SHALL  I  HONOUR  THEE  FOR  THIS  SUCCESS  ?"— 1  Henry  VI. 


^%**J*cffr*J 


R.  EMMET  was  so  much  gratified  at  the 
remarkable  success  of  the  dinner  in  every 
respect,  that  he  addressed  a  letter  of 
thanks  to  Dr.  Coe,  as  the  Chairman  of 
the  Dinner  Committee,  and  received  the 
following-  reply. 


^£**><-C$#*^ 


TO  WHOM  WE  ALL  REST  GENERALLY  BEHOLDING."— Taming  of  the  Shrew. 

83 


GENTLE  MASTER  MINE,  I  AM  IN  ALL  AFFECTED  AS  YOURSELF." 

Taming  of  the  Shrew. 


My  Dear  Friend  and  Master: 

I  am  deeply  touched  by  your  letter,  and  when  I  read  it  I 
felt  that  I  had  been  richly  repaid  for  my  work  in  connection 
with  the  dinner.  It  was  purely  a  labor  of  love,  and  might 
have  been  a  larger  and  more  widely  advertised  gathering,  like 
the  Osier  banquet ;  but  I  can  assure  you  that  every  man  there 
came  gladly  and  without  urging,  while  at  least  one  hundred 
more  would  have  been  present  if  the  time  of  year  had  not 
been  unpropitious. 

I  send  a  few  letters  which  may  be  of  interest  to  you.  Had 
I  known  that  the  speeches  would  be  so  good  I  would  have 
provided  a  medical  reporter  to  take  them  down  verbatim.  I 
did  have  a  reporter,  but  after  drinking  his  bottle  of  champagne 
he  skipped,  without  waiting  for  the  toasts. 

Let  me  assure  you  of  my  unchanging  affection  and  respect, 
and  wish  you  may  continue  to  grow  old  gracefully  for  many 
years  to  come. 

Cordially  yours, 

HENRY  C.   COE. 


"IT  IS  EXCELLENTLY  WELL  PENNED."— Twelfth  Night. 
85 


"  DELIVER'D  LETTERS,     .     .     .     WHICH  PRESENTLY  THEY  READ."— King  Lear. 


etters 


"FROM   WHOM   HE  BRINGETH  SENSIBLE  REGRETS."— Merchant  of  Venice. 

87 


MOST  FAIR  RETURN  OF  GREETINGS  AND  DESIRES. "-Hamlet. 


HE  following  letters  and  telegrams  were 
received  either  by  Dr.  Coe,  the  Chairman 
of  the  Dinner  Committee,  or  by  Dr. 
Emmet. 

Unfortunately,  a  number  of  letters,  of 
which  a  portion  were  read  at  the  dinner, 
were  mislaid,  or  on  that  occasion  passed  into  the  hands  of 
some  autograph  collector.  Consequently  it  is  not  possible  to 
give  even  the  names  of  the  writers. 


EPBSJSyPfl 

ba£^j 

T 

111 

KSH 

"TO  THE  UNKNOWN  BELOVED,  THIS,  AND  MY  GOOD  WISHES. "-Twelfth Night. 

89 


"OP  WHOM   I  HAVE  RECEIVED.     .     .     .      "-The  Tempest. 


Boston,  May  6,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

You  don't  know  how  sorry  I  am  that  I  cannot  attend  the  banquet  to 
Dr.  Emmet.  I  am  still  in  the  hands  of  a  nurse,  and  cannot  walk  after  a 
lapse  of  nearly  two  years.  I  have  the  highest  respect,  veneration,  and  love 
for  Dr.  Emmet,  and  I  hope  the  banquet  will  be  in  every  way  a  most 
brilliant  success. 

With  many  regrets  that  I  cannot  be  present, 

I  am,  very  truly  yours, 

WALTER  L.  BURRAGE. 


Boston,  May  7,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

I  have  postponed  replying  to  your  invitation  to  attend  the  dinner  to 
the  Grand  Old  Man  Emmet  until  I  could  be  sure.  I  am  now  convinced 
that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  absent  myself  from  Boston  on  that  date. 
Give  my  warmest  regards  to  Emmet.  I  owed  much  to  him  in  the  early 
days  and  would  have  liked  to  acknowledge  it  now. 

Faithfully  yours, 

JAMES  R.   CHADWICK. 


Nashville,  Tenn.,  May  11,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

I  received  your  invitation  to  the  Emmet  dinner,  and  beg  to  thank  you 
for  your  thoughtfulness  in  remembering  me.  I  appreciate  very  highly  the 
notification,  and  regret  exceedingly  that  I  shall  be  unable  to  come  to  New 
York  at  this  season. 

I  assure  you  that  nothing  would  have  given  me  more  pleasure  than  to 
join  in  the  honor  which  you  are  doing  our  master,  and  shall  write  him 
my  personal  regrets  at  being  unable  to  attend. 

Yours  sincerely, 

W.  D.  HAGGARD. 

91 


[telegram.] 

Nashville,  Term. ,  May  29,  190.5. 
Dr.  Thos.  Addis  Emmet: 

Congratulations  upon  your  birthday.     The  world  owes  you  an  undy- 
ing debt  of  gratitude.     Regret  that  I  cannot  join  in   doing  you   honor 

to-night. 

W.  D.  HAGGARD. 


Milwaukee,  Wis.,  May  26,  1905. 
Dr.  H.   C.  Coe,  New  York. 

My  Dear  Friend  :  I  am  exceedingly  sorry  I  will  not  be  able  to  join 
you  in  doing  deserved  honor  to  our  good  friend  and  teacher,  Dr.  T.  A. 
Emmet.  You  must  especially  give  him  my  sincerest  and  heartiest  respects 
and  well  wishes  for  his  health  and  welfare.  Tell  him  that  I  daily  think  of 
him  in  my  work  here  in  treatment  of  the  diseases  of  women.  We  are 
reorganizing  the  Wisconsin  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  just  now, 
and  this  needs  me  here. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

GUSTAVE  A.  KLETZSCH. 


Baltimore,  Md.  ,  May  20,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

It  is  with  feelings  of  profound  regret  that,  owing  to  protracted  and 
severe  illness,  I  am  unable  to  accept  the  invitation  to  the  dinner,  to  be 
given  on  the  29th  inst,  to  Dr.  Thos.  Addis  Emmet,  which  you  have  sent 
me  with  marked  courtesy  and  consideration. 

It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1868  that  I  was  introduced  to  Dr.  Emmet  by 
a  mutual  friend,  the  lamented  Dr.  J.  C.  Nott.  The  great  New  York 
Woman's  Hospital  was  then  under  Dr.  Emmet's  sole  charge,  Dr.  Sims 
having  gone  abroad.  Here  they  had  for  years  worked  together  in  peace 
and  harmony,  and  established  the  Sims-Emmet  School,  which  not  only 
revolutionized,  but  created  gynecology  as  a  science.  Their  names  must 
be  forever  linked  together,  and  irradiate  and  enlighten  all  succeeding  ages. 
The  invention  of  Sims'  speculum,  like  the  hatchet  of  a  pioneer,  blazed  the 
way  in  an  untrodden  forest,  and  created  new  methods  in  the  examination 
and  treatment  of  many  of  the  diseases  and  accidents  of  the  female 
genitalia,  the  value  and  extent  of  which  no  man  can  ever  estimate.  Their 
discoveries  and  methods  have  now  become  so  interwoven  with  the  lesions 
and  practice  of  all  gynecologists  all  over  the  world  as  to  have  become 
common  property. 

92 


But  Emmet  was   not  a  mere  cequer  and  copyist.     He  was  a  bold, 

original,   and   profound   thinker.       What   Emmet   himself    achieved — and 

that  will  live  forever — must  be  known  to  every  gynecologist  at  all  worthy 

of  the  name. 

Sincerely  yours, 

W.  T.  HOWARD. 


New  York,  May  28,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Emmet: 

Permit  me  to  congratulate  you  in  advance  on  the  attainment  of  your 
seventy-seventh  birthday. 

I  have  begged  leave  to  participate  in  the  dinner  of  the  29th  inst. ,  and 
my  only  regret  is  that  I  have  not  had  more  opportunities  to  feel  the 
personal  influence  of  your  supreme  philirishry. 

I  had  the  honor  to  address  you  in  verse  at  the  Celtic  Medical  Society 
dinner,  and  although  almost  unknown  to  you,  I  could  not  let  the  oppor- 
tunity go  by  for  writing  to  express  my  respects. 

Yours  sincerely, 

GEORGE  B.  McAULIFFE. 


Louisville,  Ky.,  May  24,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

I  keenly  regret  that  uncompromising  obligations  here  will  deprive  me 
of  the  pleasure  of  attending  the  complimentary  dinner  to  honor  Dr. 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet  on  the  occasion  of  his  seventy-seventh  birthday. 
It  is  most  appropriate  that  such  a  tribute  of  respect,  esteem,  and  honor 
should  be  paid  our  great  master  in  gynecology  by  his  friends  and  former 
pupils  at  this  time.  To  those  who  have  sat  at  his  elbow  and  learned  his 
lessons,  and  applied  those  lessons  year  after  year  in  practice,  his  services 
to  science  are  best  known  and  appreciated.  It  is  difficult  to  adequately 
express  a  proper  appreciation  of  his  services  at  a  time  when  gynecology 
was  scarcely  recognized  as  a  distinct  and  important  department  of  surgery. 
His  labor  and  teachings  perfected  and  popularized  operative  procedures 
to  a  degree  that  doubtless  will  never  be  modified  or  superseded.  His 
years,  indeed,  are  full  of  honors,  and  I  can  only  imagine  the  pleasure  he 
will  have  in  having  around  him  at  this  time  so  many  distinguished  pupils 
who  have  followed  in  his  footsteps.  Permit  me  to  join  in  the  wish  of  all 
that  he  may  have  many  more  years  amid  the  scenes  of  his  labors  and 
triumphs. 

Sincerely  yours, 

LEWIS  S.   McMURTRY. 
93 


Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  May  5,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

I  regret  greatly  that  I  shall  be  unable  to  be  present  at  the  dinnar  to  be 
given  in  honor  of  Dr.  Emmet  on  May  29.  We  are  going  to  have  great 
doings  here  at  that  time  in  connection  with  the  opening  of  our  new  art 
gallery,  and,  as  I  am  one  of  the  directors,  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to 
get  away. 

Kindly  express  my  congratulations  to  Dr.  Emmet  at  his  having 
attained  so  great  and  honorable  an  age.  There  is  no  one  in  our  branch 
of  the  profession  whom  I  hold  in  so  high  respect  as  I  do  him. 

With  kind  regards,  I  remain,  yours  very  truly, 

MATTHEW  D.  MANN. 


Detroit,  May  19,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

It  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  join  in  the  proposed  dinner  to  Dr. 
Emmet,  and  to  assist  in  honoring  the  man  who  has  done  so  much  for 
American  gynecology  and  to  whom  we  all  owe  a  debt  of  gratitude  for  his 
pioneer  work,  which  has  placed  this  country  at  the  head  of  the  specialty 
he  has  so  long  and  successfully  represented.  I  regret  exceedingly  that 
other  engagements  will  prevent  me  from  being  present  at  the  dinner  and 
personally  participating  in  the  pleasures  of  the  occasion. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  P.  MANTON. 


1524  Walnut  Street, 

Philadelphia,  May  23,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

Only  implacable  fate  could  keep  me  from  giving  the  small  contribution 
of  my  personal  presence  toward  honoring  my  old  friend. 

My  remembrances  of  this  most  distinguished  physician  go  back  to  the 
days  when  we  sat  on  the  benches  of  the  Jefferson  Medical  College,  or 
when,  as  a  guest  in  my  father's  house,  he  was  the  same  courteous  and 
socially  interesting  man  he  has  always  remained. 

Of  the  kindly  interchanges  which  have  kept  alive  the  friendship  of 
two  very  busy  men,  this  is  hardly  the  place  to  speak.  Neither  may  I  do 
more  than  acknowledge  gratefully  the  time  and  cost  he  gave  some  years 
ago  toward  royally  illustrating  a  book  which  his  friendship  regarded  as 
worthy  of  so  splendid  a  compliment. 

94 


We  may,  as  physicians,  feel  thankful  for  a  man  whose  scholarship  is 
of  so  rare  a  quality,  whose  originative  force  has  been  so  far  felt  and  influ- 
ential, and  whose  life  of  uprightness,  kindliness,  and  honor  preserves  the 
highest  traditions  of  the  physician  and  gentleman.  I  should  like  to  have 
said  all  this  and  more,  but  this  is  not  to  be.  I  shall  like  my  old  friend  to 
read  between  these  lines  a  warmer  confession  of  admiring  affection  than 
men  are  willing  to  put  on  paper  in  these  reticent  days. 

Yours  very  truly, 

S.   WIER  MITCHELL. 


Equitable  Building, 

Memphis,  Tenn. ,  May  29,  1905. 
Dr.  Henry  C.  Coe. 

My  Dear  Doctor:  I  regret  that  I  could  not  attend  Dr.  Emmet's 
dinner.  It  would  have  given  me  great  pleasure,  because  I  admire  him. 
Please  accept  the  inclosed  check  to  help  bear  the  expenses. 

With  kind  regards  for  yourself, 

Very  sincerely, 

R.  B.   MAURY. 


[telegram.] 

Nashville,  Tenn.,  May  29,  1905. 
Dr.  Thos.  Addis  Emmet, 

Delmonico's,  New  York: 
I  join  with  innumerable  women  throughout  the  world  who,  though 
absent,  do  vou  honor  in  their  hearts. 

KATHERIXE  A.  OLWILL. 


Cincinnati,  Ohio,  April  28,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dk.   Coe: 

Accept  my  thanks  for  your  kind  invitation  to  attend  the  banquet  in 
honor  of  the  seventy-seventh  birthday  of  our  distinguished  fellow,  Dr. 
Thos.  Addis  Emmet. 

I  sincerely  regret  my  inability  to  attend.  I  regret  it  the  more  because 
of  my  high  appreciation  of  the  services  rendered,  not  only  to  the  American 
Gynecological  Society,  but  for  his  contributions  to  American  gynecology. 
His  name  will  always  go  down  to  posterity  because  of  the  international 
recognition  of  the  value  of  his  signal  services  in  gynecological  plastic 
surgery. 

Though  absent  from  you  in  body,  believe  me  ever  present  with  you 
in  sentiment  and  spirit.  Kindly  remember  me  to  all  of  my  friends  there 
present. 

I  remain,  yours  very  truly, 

CHAUNCEY  D.  PALMER. 
95 


Providence,  R.  I.,  May  30,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.   Emmet: 

It  was  with  sincere  regret  I  was  not  able  to  attend  the  banquet  in 
your  honor  last  night. 

Please  accept  my  congratulations  and  my  wish  that  your  life  may 
still  be  prolonged  many  years,  if  not  in  active  work,  yet  as-  a  stimulus  to 
better  work  on  the  part  of  the  younger  gynecologists. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

GEORGE  WHIPPLE    PORTER. 


New  York,  May  15,   1905. 
Dear  Dr.   Coe: 

The  night  chosen  for  the  banquet  to  Dr.  Emmet  comes  the  day,  or 
rather  two  days,  after  my  intended  departure  for  Europe,  and  I  have  re- 
mained silent,  hoping  I  could  secure  a  later  passage  in  order  to  be  present. 
But  I  find  this  impossible,  unless  I  delay  my  passage  until  July,  and  the 
condition  of  my  wife's  health  will  not  permit  this.  Therefore,  I  beg  per- 
mission to  secure  a  seat  at  the  table  and  having  my  name  on  the  list  even 
if  I  cannot  be  present. 

I  am  in  full  sympathy  with  the  promoters  of  the  banquet,  and  deplore 
the  fact  that  I  must  leave  the  country  almost  on  the  eve  of  its  consumma- 
tion.    There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that  the  attendance  will  be  large 

and  harmonious. 

Yours  very  cordially, 

JOHN  G.   PERRY. 


Cincinnati,  April  28,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

Herewith  find  my  check  for  the  Emmet  dinner.  This  day  I  am 
seventy-six,  and  could  not  engage  in  more  agreeable  or  profitable  work 
than  contributing,  even  in  an  humble  way,  to  the  recognition  of  the  great- 
ness and  the  goodness  of  Thos.  Addis  Emmet.  He  laid  well  the  founda- 
tions. Few  have  equaled,  none  surpassed  him  in  developing  American 
gynecology. 

Recent  advances  in  certain  directions  justify  a  revision  of  some  of  his 
teaching.  But  much  of  it  must  endure  because  essentially  true.  And 
then  Dr.  Emmet,  in  his  noble  individuality,  stands  for  truth  and  honor. 
His  name  and  his  fame  are  secure.     Give  him  my  love, 

THAD.   A.   REAMY. 

P.  S.— My  health  during  the  past  eight  months  has  been  so  bad  that 
my  attendance  at  the  dinner  is  uncertain. 

96 


May  17,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Emmet: 

It  was  with  the  keenest  regret  that  I  had  to  notify  Dr.  Coe  this  morn- 
ing of  my  inability  to  be  present  at  your  dinner.  No  word  can  express 
my  anxiety  to  be  present.  No  words  can  even  faintly  indicate  my  love 
for  you,  nor  my  appreciation  of  your  noble  character  and  your  extraor- 
dinary life  work.  Your  friendship  has  been  a  benediction  to  me;  your 
professional  example  an  inspiration;  your  teaching  contributed  more, 
infinitely  more,  than  that  of  any  other  man  to  my  professional  equipment. 
I  hoped  to  meet  you  at  Niagara  Falls.  Dr.  Dudley,  however,  informs  me 
in  a  note  just  received  that  you  cannot  be  present.  I  must  see  you  again 
before  either  of  us  crosses  the  bar.  Surely  I  shall.  But  if  not,  we  shall 
renew  our  friendship  on  the  other  side,  and  we  shall  be  happy — God 
bless  you ! 

Ever  sincerely  your  friend, 

THAD.  A.  REAMY. 


Dayton,  Ohio,  May  29,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Emmet: 

I  have  just  learned  by  merest  accident  that  you  have  been  tendered, 
or  are  about  to  be  tendered,  a  dinner  to  celebrate  your  seventy-seventh 
birthday.  I  take  the  liberty  of  adding  my  congratulations  and  my  good 
wishes  on  the  occasion.  As  to  the  infliction  of  the  dinner — -I  use  the  word 
advisedly,  because  I  am  to  undergo  the  same  punishment  on  the  5th  prox. , 
my  seventy-ninth  birthday.  It  is  tendered  me  by  the  profession  of  the 
city  where  I  have  resided  now  over  fifty  years.  I  could  be  patient  under 
the  trial  could  I  feel  that  I  had  done  anything  worthy  of  the  honor.  Had 
I,  like  you,  been  for  years  a  teacher  of  gynecology,  the  author  of  distinct 
advances,  the  writer  of  standard  works,  then  I  would  willingly  have 
accepted  the  honor.  But  a  few  journal  articles  deserve  no  recognition. 
Excuse  my  writing,  but  I  knew  only  of  yourself  as  a  "founder"  in  the 
American  Gynecological  Society.  There  are  doubtless  a  few  others,  but 
I  cannot  name  them.  And  now,  my  dear  doctor,  among  the  good  wishes  I 
send  you  is  one  that  you  are  as  well  as  I  am.  I  have  no  aches  or  pains, 
no  failure  of  sight  or  hearing,  so  far  as  I  can  myself  observe.  I  walk 
nearly  daily  to  my  daughter's,  one  and  a  half  miles,  and  so  still  enjoy  life 
in  a  quiet  way.  I  trust  that  your  years  may  yet  long  be  spared  in  the 
land  of  the  living,  and  spared  without  suffering  and  without  the  feebleness 
of  age.  When  these  come  I  wish  for  you  what  I  wish  for  myself — a 
speed}r  departure. 

Honoring  you  for  the  good  work  you  have  done,  holding  you  in 
grateful  remembrance  as  a  friend, 

I  am,  sincerely  yours, 

J.  C.   REEVE. 

97 


New  York,  May  28,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.   Coe:  ^ 

I  am  prevented  from  being  in  my  place  at  the  dinner  to  Dr.  Emmet, 
and  I  wish  to  express  my  high  appreciation  of  his  great  qualities,  and  of 
the  luster  that  shines  from  American  medicine  and  surgery  in  consequence 
of  his  life  of  magnificent  work. 

In  common  with  all  who  know  him,  I  wish  for  him  many  years  of  con- 
tinued happiness  in  the  exercise  of  his  great  abilities  and  in  the  society  of 
his  family  and  countless  friends. 

With  many  regrets  that  I  shall  not  be  able  to  take  his  hand  on  this 
great  occasion, 

I  am,  dear  Dr.  Coe,  yours  sincerely, 

D.   B.  ST.  JOHN  ROOSA. 


Montreal,  Canada,  May  9,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

I  am  very  sorry  that  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  attend  the  banquet  to 
Dr.  Emmet  in  New  York  on  the  29th  inst.  It  is  all  I  can  do  to  get  away 
for  the  Niagara  meeting.  With  my  best  wishes  for  its  success  and  for 
many  years  more  of  health  and  happiness   for  the  Grand  Old  Man  of 

Gynecology, 

I  remain,  yours  very  truly, 

A.  LAPTHORN  SMITH. 


Hartford,  Conn. 
My  Dear  Dr.  Emmet: 

I  am  exceedingly  sorry  to  state  that  an  enforced  rest  and  absence 
from  home  obliged  me  to  give  up  being  present  at  your  birthday  dinner 
on  May  the  twenty-ninth 

It  would  have  given  me  the  greatest  of  pleasure  to  have  met  you 
again,  to  have  congratulated  you  as  I  do  now  on  the  happy  occasion,  and 
to  wish  you  long  life,  with  a  full  realization  of  the  gratitude  of  our  profes- 
sion  and  of  womankind  for  the  benefits  you  have    conferred    by   your 

great  life  work. 

Most  sincerely  yours, 

CHARLES  E.  TAFT. 


Baltimore,  May  13,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.   Coe: 

On  account  of  my  absence  for  a  few  days  your  letter  of  the  ninth  came 
into  my  hands  only  to-day.  I  am  much  honored  by  the  invitation  to  act 
as  toastmaster  at  the  Emmet  dinner  on  May  29. 

While  I  do  not  believe  that  I  have  the  requisite  gifts  for  such  an 
office,  I  am  extremely  sorry  that  I  cannot  even  be  at  the  dinner.  I  have 
engaged  my  passage  for  England  on  May  27,  and  as  I  am  going  to  keep 
an  imperative  engagement  in  London  early  in  June,  I  cannot  defer  sailing 
to  a  later  date. 

There  is  no  man  in  our  profession  more  deserving  of  honor  than  Dr. 
Emmet.  The  dinner  should  be  a  great  success,  and  I  am  particularly 
sorry  that  I  cannot  participate  and  show  at  least  by  my  presence  the 
regard  and  affection  which  I  have  for  Dr.  Emmet. 

Thanking  you  and  the  committee  cordially  for  the  invitation, 
I  am,  very  sincerely  yours, 

WILLIAM  H.  WELSH. 


Baltimore,  May  14,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.   Emmet: 

It  is  a  great  disappointment  to  me  that  I  cannot  be  at  the  dinner  in 
your  honor  on  May  29,  as  I  have  already  written  Dr.  Coe. 

I  am  obliged  to  sail  for  England  before  that  date  in  order  to  keep  an 
imperative  engagement  in  London. 

There  is  no  one  in  our  profession  more  deserving,  by  his  work  and 
influence  and  personality,  of  such  a  tribute  of  esteem  and  affection  from 
his  colleagues  and  the  general  public.  I  recall  with  especial  pleasure  our 
personal  intercourse,  especially  our  conversations  at  Narragansett  Pier, 
and  I  hope  that  I  may  have  similar  opportunities  to  see  you  in  the  future. 
Meantime,  as  I  cannot  be  at  the  dinner,  I  wish  to  send  these  few  lines  of 
congratulation  and  appreciation  of  your  great  work,  and  my  best  wishes 
for  your  continued  happiness  and  good  health. 

Faithfully  yours, 

WILLIAM  H.   WELSH. 


Chicago,  May  4,  1905. 
Dr.  H.  C.   Coe: 

My  Dear  Doctor  :  I  am  in  receipt  of  your  invitation  to  the  banquet 
to  be  given  to  Dr.  Thomas  A.  Emmet.  I  regret  very  much  my  inability 
to  attend,  as  I  would  be  greatly  pleased  to  meet  with  others  of  the  pro- 
fession to  do  honor  to  the  man  who  has  done  the  most  for  gynecology.  I 
sincerely  hope  that  the  occasion  will  be  a  very  enjoyable  one,  and  beg  to 
remain, 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

THOMAS  J.  WATKINS. 
99 


Louisville,  Ky.,  May  22,  1905. 

Dr.   Henry  Clarke  Coe: 

.  «>. 

I  had  indulged  the  hope  to  the  last  moment  of  attending  the  dinner 

on  the  twenty -ninth  in  honor  of  the  seventy-seventh  birthday  of  our  dear 
friend,  Dr.  Thos.  Addis  Emmet,  but  now  find  that  conditions  are  such 
that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  be  away  from  home  at  that  time ;  in 
fact,  I  doubt  if  I  will  be  able  to  be  at  the  Falls. 

Kindly  convey  to  dear  Dr.  Emmet  my  best  wishes  for  many  more 
years  of  happy  life.  He  is  one  of  the  great  and  noble  men  of  our 
profession  and  should  be  admired  and  loved  by  all. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

W.  H.  WATHEN. 


New  York,  April  27,  1905. 
Mv  Dear  Dr.  Coe: 

Nothing  would  be  more  agreeable  than  to  be  present  at  the  proposed 
dinner  to  do  honor  to  Dr.  Emmet,  whom  we  all  love,  admire,  and  respect. 
As  you  say,  his  services  to  gynecology  have  been  great,  and  American 
medicine  owes  much  to  him.  Unfortunately,  I  had  already  made  plans  to 
be  out  of  town  on  that  day,  and  for  that  reason,  very  regretfully,  am 
forced  to  deny  myself  the  honor  of  being  with  you. 

Truly  yours, 

R.  W.  WILCOX. 


"FRIENDS  AM  I  WITH  YOU  ALL,  AND  LOVE  YOU  ALL. "-Julius  Caesar. 

100 


DINNER  IS  READY,     .     .     .     WELL,  LET  US  GO  IN."-Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 


^tehts^l&xj^Qtxj 


ncomplete  Xtst  of  Zbo&c  present 
at  tbe  ©inner 


>«fchi**4g*>L««Hg*>o 


I  HAVE  RECEIVED  MUCH  HONOUR  BV  VOUR  PRESENCE."— Henry  VIII. 


AS  AN  INDEX  TO  THE  STORY  WE  LATE  TALK'D  OF."— Richard  III. 


*C§fr*J"ef&*J 


!N  index  of  the  names  of  those  who  were 
present  at  the  dinner,  so  far  as  it  has  been 
possible  to  obtain  them  after  taxing  the 
recollection  of  many.  The  list  is  not  com- 
plete, as  about  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  seats  were  taken.      Unfortunately,  the 

original  list  was  destroyed  immediately  after  the  dinner,  as  it 

was  not  supposed  it  would  be  required. 


^ftjh*c-r$jNc* 


WE  KNOW  EACH  OTHER  WELL."— Troilus  and  Cressida. 
103 


YOU  WERE  IN  PRESENCE  THEN  ;   AND  YOU  CAN  WITNESS  WITH  ME 
THIS  IS  TRUE."— Richard  II. 


*-c£*ac<c£jh*^ 


INCOMPLETE    LIST    OF   GUESTS. 


Aspell,  Dr.  John,  -  -  New  York 
Baker,  Dr.  Wm.  H.,  Boston,  Mass. 
Baldwin,  Dr.  L.  G. ,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Bangs,  Dr.  L.  Bolton,  -  New  York 
Baruch,  Dr.  Simon,  -  -  New  York 
Bissell,  Dr.  James  D.,  -  New  York 
Boldt,  Dr.  H.  J.,  -  -  -  New  York 
Bradley,  Dr.  S.  C,  -  -  New  York 
Brothers,  Dr.  Abram,  -  New  York 
Broun,  Dr.  Le  Roy,  -  -  New  York 
Coe,  Dr.  Henry  C. ,  -  -  New  York 
Conaway,  Dr.  W.  P., 

Atlantic  City,  N.  J. 
Currier,  Dr.  Andrew  F.,  New  York 
Denton,  Dr.  M.  P.,  -  -  New  York 
Dudley,  Dr.  E.  C,  -  Chicago,  111. 
Dudley,  Dr.  J.  Palmer,  New  York 
Edebohls,  Dr.  George  M. ,  New  York 
Edgar,  Dr.  J.  C,  -  -  -  New  York 
Emmet,  Dr.  Bache  McE.,  New  York 
Emmet,  Dr.  John  Duncan, 

New  York 
Emmet,  Dr.  Thomas  Addis, 

New  York 
Farley,    The    Most    Rev.    Arch- 
bishop,  ------  New  York 

Fry,  Dr.  Henry  D., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Flint,  Jr.,  Dr.  Austin,  -  New  York 
Gibbons,  Dr.  H.  J.,  -  Scranton,  Pa. 


Gibbons,  Dr.  JohnM.,  Scranton,  Pa. 
Gibbons,  Dr.  Peter  J.,  -  New  York 
Gibbons,  Dr.  Richard  H.  C, 

New  York 
Gibney,  Dr.  V.  P.,  -  -  New  York 
Gillette,  Dr.  Curtenius,  New  York 
Goffe,  Dr.  J.  R.,  -  -  -  New  York 
Gordon,  Dr.  S.  C,  Portland,  Me. 
Grad,  Dr.  Herman,  -  -  New  York 
Grandin,  Dr.  E.  W.,  -  -  New  York 
Griswold,  Dr.  Henry,  -  New  York 
Hadden,  Dr.  Alex.,  -  -  New  York 
Harris,  Dr.  Philander  A., 

Paterson,  N.  J. 
Harrison,  Dr.  George  Tucker, 

New  York 
Hawley,  Dr.  John  S.,  -  New  York 
Hazen,  Dr.  Henry  C,  -  New  York 
Hingston,  Sir  Wm.,  Montreal,  Can. 
Hirons,  Dr.  Gardner,  -  New  York 
Hirst,  Dr.  Barton  C, 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Hustace,  Dr.  Francis,  -  New  York 
Hyde,  Dr.  C.  R.,  -  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Ingalls,  Dr.  P.  H.,  Hartford,  Conn. 
Jacobi,  Dr.  Abraham,  -  New  York 
Janvrin,  Dr.  Jos.  E.,  -  -  New  York 
Jarmen,  Dr.  G.  W.,  -  -  New  York 
Jewett,  Dr.  Charles, 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 


:°5 


Johnson,  Dr.  Jos.  Taber, 

Washington,  D.  C. 
King,  Dr.  Albert  F.  A., 

Washington,  D.  C. 
Knapp,  Dr.  Henry  J., 

Newport,  R.  I. 
Langstaff,  Dr.  Lewis  G., 

Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
McAuliffe,  Dr.  D.  A.,  -  New  York 
McAuliffe,  Dr.  George  B., 

New  York 
McDonald,  Dr.  D.  J.,  -  New  York 
McGannon,  Dr.  M.  C, 

Nashville,  Tenn. 
McGinnis,  Dr.  E.  L.  H.,  New  York 
McGrath,  Dr.  John  J.,  -  New  York 
MacGuire,  Dr.  Const antine  J., 

New  York 
McLean,  Dr.  Malcolm,  -  New  York 
Mallett,  Dr.  George  H.,  New  York 
Mammach,  Dr.  Charles  E., 

New  York 
Montgomery,  Dr.  Edwd.  E., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 


Moseley,  Dr.  Wm.  E., 

Baltimore,  Md. 
Moran,  Dr.  James,  -  -  New  York 
Murray,  Dr.  R.  A.,  -  -  New  York 
O'Brien,  Dr.  M.  C,  -  -  New  York 
Packard,  Dr.  Charles  W., 

New  York 
Peck,  Dr.  E.  S.,  -  -  -  New  York 
Penrose,  Dr.  Charles  B., 

Philadelphia,  Pa. 
Polk,  Dr.  Wm.  M.,  -  -  New  York 
Quinlan,  Dr.  Francis  J.,  New  York 
Rodenstein,  Dr.  L.  A.,  New  York 
Smith,  Dr.  A.  A.,  -  -  New  York 
Studiford,  Dr.  Wm.  E.,  New  York 
Sturgis,  Dr.  Fred'k  R.,  New  York 
Talbot,  Dr.  R.  B.,  -  -  New  York 
Taylor,  Dr.  H.  C,  -  -  New  York 
Townsend,  Dr.  A.  B. ,  -  New  York 
Tucker,  Dr.  A.  B.,  -  -  New  York 
Vineburg,  Dr.  H.  N.,  -  New  York 
Voorhees,  Dr.  James  D.,  New  York 
Walsh,  Dr.  James  J.,  -  New  York 
Wells,  Dr.  Brooks  H.,     New  York 


STILL  REVELLING  LIKE  LORDS  TILL  ALL  BE  GONE."— 2  Henry  VI. 

106 


"YOU  SHALL  FIND  SOME  THAT  WILL  THANK  YOU,  MAKING  JUST  REPORT." 

King  Lear. 


ubltc  IReport  of  Dinner 


SO  'TIS  REPORTED,  SIR— NAY,  'TIS  MOST  CREDIBLE." 

All's  Well  That  Ends  Well. 
107 


"I  THANK  YOU,     .     .     .     'TIS  VERY  CLERKLY  DONE." 

Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 


ne*3p*r**3f>>> 


My  Dear  Dr.   Emmet  : 

I  am  having  sent  to  you  a  copy  of  last  week's  ' '  Medical 
News,"  with  an  account  of  the  Emmet  dinner  and  our  editorial 
tribute  to  the  first  great  clinical  teacher  in  America,  and  the 
first  surgeon  who  made  us  widely  known  in  Europe. 

I  wish  the  tribute  were  more  worthy  of  its  subject.  My 
best  wishes  go  out  to  you  for  many  years  of  happy,  still  useful, 
life — useful  to  yourself  and  others. 

Yours  sincerely, 

JAMES  J.   WALSH. 


/T«*j>»>ne*J>>> 


AND  YE  SHALL  FIND  ME  THANKFUL."— Henry  VIII. 
109 


"IF  IT  BE  A  JUST  AND  TRUE  REPORT  THAT  GOES  OF  HIS  HAVING." 

Timon  of  Athens. 


THE     MEDICAL     NEWS, 

JUNE   3,  1905. 


EDITORIAL    ON   THE   EMMET   DINNER. 

HE  testimonial  dinner  tendered  to  Dr.  Thomas 
Addis  Emmet,  of  New  York  City,  on  his  seventy- 
seventh  birthday,  on  Monday,  May  29,  an  account 
of  which  appears  in  another  column  of  this  week's 
Medical  News,  was  a  worthy  tribute  to  a  man  who 
has  merited  well  of  two  generations  of  American 
physicians.  Dr.  Emmet  was  one  of  those  who  first 
carried  the  fame  of  American  surgery  and  especially 
of  gynecology  into  European  climes,  and  few  men 
have  ever  been  so  widely  known  in  the  medical  world  or  so  favorably 
appreciated.  His  was  not  the  work  of  a  great  genius,  but  of  a  supreme 
practical  talent.  His  attention  to  the  slightest  details  was  the  secret  of  his 
remarkable  success  as  an  operator,  even  in  the  most  difficult  cases,  and 
even  our  modern  advances  in  gynecology  have  not  rendered  his  methods 
obsolete.  More  than  any  other  he  realized  the  truth  of  the  maxim :  ' '  Trifles 
make  perfection,  yet  perfection  is  no  trifle." 

To  Dr.  Emmet  we  owe,  here  in  America,  the  first  effective  clinical 
teaching.  At  the  Woman's  Hospital  he  began  and  carried  to  perfection 
that  genuine  bedside  training  of  pupils  which  constituted  the  corner  stone 
of  what  is  best  and  most  progressive  in  our  modern  medical  education. 
The  success  of  his  methods  may  be  best  appreciated  from  the  fact  that 
pupils  of  his  are  in  control  of  many  of  the  most  important  gynecological 
clinics  in  the  United  States.  More  than  any  formal  system  of  teaching 
there  was  the  magnetic  personality  of  the  man  lifting  his  students  up 
to  that  higher  plane,  where  they  viewed  things  from  the  standpoint  of 
their  own  observation  and  not  through  the  prejudices  of  preconceived 
notions  or  pet  theories.  For  this  the  medical  profession  of  America  owes 
Dr.  Emmet  a  debt  that  will  never  be  adequately  paid.  It  is  in  this 
that  his  highest  and  best  influence  was  and  will  be  for  at  least  another 
generation  surely  felt. 

But  it  must  not  be  thought  for  a  moment  that  Emmet  was  lacking  in 
originality.  Long  before  the  days  of  scientific  asepsis,  with  its  groundwork 
in  the  knowledge  of  bacteriology,    Emmet  insisted   on   a  cleanliness  of 


patient  and  physician  that  was  a  definite  anticipation  of  what  is  most 
valuable  in  the  modern  methods.  In  the  treatment  of  chronic  gelvic 
inflammation  Emmet  occupied  the  conservative  standpoint  thirty  years 
ago  to  which  gynecologists  have  in  recent  years  returned  again  after 
having  tried  the  effect  of  operations  of  many  kinds.  After  a  period  of 
partial  eclipse  Emmet's  work  is  once  more  coming  to  be  the  illuminating 
principle  of  many  procedures  in  gynecology. 

Dr.  Emmet  said  at  the  conclusion  of  the  banquet  on  Monday  evening 
that  every  professional  man  should  have  a  hobby  and  get  all  the  fun 
possible  out  of  it.  His  own  hobby  just  now  is  the  Gaelic  or  Irish  language, 
which  he  began  to  learn  at  the  age  of  seventy-five  years — a  record  recall- 
ing Cato's  application  to  Greek  at  eighty.  Neither  the  guest  of  honor  of 
the  evening  himself,  nor  any  of  those  who  made  addresses,  said  anything 
of  another  hobby  of  Dr.  Emmet's  which  has  proved  and  will  prove  for 
many  generations  a  valuable  aid  to  the  study  of  American  history.  We 
refer,  of  course,  to  the  Emmet  Collection  of  historical  documents  and 
printed  books  dealing  with  American  history,  which  may  be  found  in  the 
Lenox  Library  of  New  York  City.  It  may  be  said  that  if  he  had  not  made 
the  collection  some  one  else  would;  but,  then,  the  world's  work  always  gets 
itself  done  somehow,  yet  we  cannot  but  feel  grateful  to  the  doers  when  the 
work  has  been  of  exceptional  character.  This  collection  of  "Americana" 
will  preserve  the  name  of  Emmet  for  all  time  in  the  annals  of  American 
bibliography,  and  it  stands  as  a  magnificent  example  of  how  useful  a 
hobby  may  be  made  to  others,  while  furnishing  a  maximum  of  pleasure 
and  diverting  interest  to  its  rider. 

May  Dr.  Emmet  long  be  with  us  as  a  reminder  of  how  much  a  sincere, 
simple-hearted  physician — a  sympathetic  teacher  and  a  cultured  gentle- 
man— can  accomplish  in  a  world  that  is  not  over  pleasant  at  best,  yet  may 
be  a  poignant  blank  at  its  worst  and  can  be  changed  to  something  not  so 
far  from  the  heart's  desire  by  the  unselfish  efforts  of  the  princes  among  men. 


REPORT   OF   DINNER   TO   DR.    THOMAS   ADDIS   EMMET. 

Over  one  hundred  physicians  assembled  in  the  banquet  hall  of 
Delmonico's  on  Monday  evening,  May  29,  in  honor  of  the  seventy- 
seventh  birthday  of  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  the  distinguished  gyne- 
cologist, of  New  York,  whose  work  attracted  so  much  attention  all  over 
the  medical  world  and  brought  American  medical  science  to  the  notice 
of  European  clinics  almost  more  than  that  of  any  other  American  surgeon 
of  his  time.  The  dinner  was  presided  over  by  Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of 
Chicago,  who  congratulated  Dr.  Emmet  on  the  fact  that  he  had  been  so 
judicious  in  the  choice  of  a  birthday,  since  the  29th  day  of  May  was  also 
the  date  of  his  own  entrance  upon  this  mundane  sphere. 

EMMET'S   CHARACTER. 

Dr.  Dudley  said  that  while  Dr.  Emmet's  scientific  abilities,  his  patient 
investigation  of  difficult  questions,  and  his  ingenious  application  of  his 
knowledge  in  the  solution  of  them,  had  made  him  famous,  it  was  for 
qualities  of  heart  rather  than  of  head  that  so  many  distinguished  medical 


men  from  many  parts  of  the  country  had  gathered  together  to  do  him 
honor.  Of  the  virtues  that  befit  the  physician,  Emmet  had  exhibited  all 
with  a  brilliancy  that  could  not  fail  to  attract  attention.  Modesty  and 
philanthropy  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  kindliness  toward  friends  and 
to  his  patients,  gentleness  to  those  in  need,  and  sympathy  for  all  those 
with  whom  he  came  in  contact,  were  his  most  prominent  characteristics. 
The  roll  of  his  good  deeds,  and  long  enough  it  is,  is  known  by  many,  yet 
the  number  of  those  unknown  are  surely  greater.  Civic  virtues,  too,  he 
exhibited  in  a  way  that  makes  his  life  an  exemplar  for  the  present  and 
the  coming  generation.  And  yet  there  was  in  the  midst  of  all  this  a 
simple  humaneness  of  sympathy  that  attracted  all  those  who  knew  him. 
As  the  spectrum  contains  all  the  brilliant  colors,  yet  when  combined 
gives  only  the  mild  radiance  of  pure  white  light,  so  Emmet  the  man 
seemed  the  brother  and  the  teacher  friend  rather  than  the  distant  scientist 
and  philanthropist  to  those  who  knew  him. 

GENIUS   OP  INDUSTRY. 

Emmet  came  of  preferred  not  common  stock,  and  one  of  his  most 
prominent  traits  of  character  is  the  absolute  absence  of  all  pettiness,  as 
also  of  all  pretense.  He  had  the  moral  courage  of  his  convictions,  and  the 
persistence  of  character  that  enabled  him  to  follow  out  his  ideas  in  a  very 
wonderful  way  to  happy  issue.  Above  all,  he  had  the  faculty  for  hard 
work.  Yet  work  did  not  seem  hard  to  him,  and  after  watching  him  you 
were  always  tempted  to  think  that  what  he  was  doing  was  easy,  even 
though  it  might  be  time-taking,  until  you  tried  it  yourself.  Emmet's  work 
raised  up  the  science  of  practical  gynecology  to  a  standard  it  had  never 
reached  before  and  his  ideas  were  fruitful  sources  of  further  advances, 
though  when  the  account  is  made  up  it  will  be  surprising  how  little  in 
reality  has  been  added  to  the  groundwork  of  science  laid  by  Emmet. 

Dr.  Dudley  then  introduced  Dr.  William  M.  Polk,  of  New  York,  who 
spoke  of  Dr.  Emmet  as  a  surgeon. 

SURGICAL  CAREER. 

Dr.  Polk  said  that  all  that  Dr.  Emmet  had  done  for  gynecology  is  even 
yet  not  appreciated.  The  reaction  against  operations  in  the  more  recent 
times  has  brought  some  of  Emmet's  ideas  more  into  prominence  than  they 
have  been  at  any  time  in  the  last  thirty  years.  Above  all,  Emmet  realized 
the  limitations  of  surgery.  While  he  could  see  many  sides  of  the  question 
and  realize  and  be  ready  to  recognize  the  value  of  the  work  of  others  along 
lines  quite  different  to  his  own,  he  recognized  more  than  any  other  when 
it  was  true  of  the  art  of  surgery  that  it  might  be  said,  "Thus  far  shalt 
thou  go  and  no  further."  With  regard  to  many  of  the  chronic  forms  of 
pelvic  inflammation,  he  said  long  ago  that  not  radical  surgical  treatment, 
but  local  treatment,  m  various  forms  and  long  continued,  would  eventually 
give  the  greatest  measure  of  relief.  This  conclusion  the  gynecologists  of 
to-day,  after  many  years  of  experience  with  operative  methods,  are  now 
ready  to  acknowledge  as  the  most  hopeful  principle  in  treatment.  Emmet 
thus  anticipated  modernity  and  the  work  of  the  generation  of  active 
workers  following  his  own. 

"3 


BEDSIDE  TEACHING. 

Dr.  Polk  told  the  story  of  once  having  asked  Dr.  Emmet  to  do^some 
lecturing  in  a  medical  school.  Dr.  Emmet  said  that  he  was  not  a  lecturer 
but  a  teacher.  Those  who  for  years  from  all  the  United  States  flocked 
to  the  Woman's  Hospital  to  take  advantage  of  his  teaching  realized  this 
better  than  it  can  be  told  in  words.  If  the  modern  method  of  teaching  by 
means  of  actual  demonstration  from  the  patient  has  come  to  vogue  in 
recent  years,  most  of  it  is  due  to  the  example  so  well  set  by  Dr.  Emmet. 
His  teaching  was  of  the  most  practical  and  helpful  character.  Ideas  that 
were  obtained  were  not  vague  and  indefinite,  but  just  such  as  could  be 
used  with  most  advantage  in  the  actual  practice  in  medicine.  Theories 
were  not  exploited,  but  observations  were  made  and  actualities  demon- 
strated. In  the  history  of  the  rise  of  medical  education  in  America  to  its 
present  high  standard  the  name  of  no  man  stands  higher  than  that  of 
Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet. 

DR.  EMMET,  THE  LITTERATEUR. 

Most  Rev.  John  Farley,  Archbishop  of  New  York,  was  then  intro- 
duced and  spoke  to  the  toast  of  Emmet  as  a  writer  on  subjects  apart  from 
medicine.  He  said  that  while  he  was  the  only  non-medical  man  present, 
that  fact  only  added  to  his  readiness  and  his  happiness  to  have  the  privi- 
lege of  bringing  his  tribute  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Emmet.  The  injunction  of 
Ecclesiastes  is,  honor  the  physician,  for  in  the  day  of  illness  you  will  fall 
into  his  hands.  Dr.  Emmet's  literary  work  that  has  attracted  most  atten- 
tion is  undoubtedly  his  "Ireland  Under  English  Rule,  or  a  Plea  for  the 
Plaintiff."  This  book  serves  to  show  very  well  that  while  physicians  may 
greet  him  as  a  leader  in  his  own  profession,  he  knows  many  things  apart 
from  his  life  work.  An  American  born,  but  with  the  blood  of  distinguished 
Irishmen  in  his  veins,  he  set  himself  to  show  the  world  what  were  the 
reasons  why  men  of  Irish  birth  and  Irish  ancestry  must  ever  hold  in  detes- 
tation the  part  that  England  has  played  in  Ireland's  history.  While  his 
ancestry  made  the  motive  noblesse  oblige  the  principal  motive  of  his  book, 
the  cause  of  truth  must  have  been  the  main  directing  idea.  Over  nine 
hundred  volumes  were  consulted  in  the  preparation  for  it,  and  the  last 
word  on  the  subject  is  said  for  this  generation.  His  conclusions  are  worthy 
of  the  greatness  of  soul  of  a  really  great  man.  He  preaches  patience  to 
Ireland  as  a  panacea  for  all  her  ills,  and  penance  to  England  for  her  errors 
in  the  treatment  of  the  Irish. 

DR.    EMMET,   THE   TEACHER. 

Dr.  W.  H.  Baker,  of  Boston,  said  that  the  striking  characteristic  of 
Emmet  as  a  teacher  was  his  originality  of  idea,  his  thoroughness  of  execu- 
tion, his  ingenuity  and  skill  in  the  application  of  right  principles,  and  the 
magnetic  personality  by  which  his  ideas  were  conveyed  to  his  pupils  in 
all  their  fullness.  His  success  may  very  well  be  judged  from  the  fact  that 
his  pupils  are  holding  positions  of  importance  and  prominence  all  over  this 
country,  and  that  they  are  thus  giving  a  wide  sphere  of  influence  to  his 
teaching.  Better  than  anything  else  for  his  pupils  was  Emmet's  own 
example  in  his  relations  to  his  patients.     Once  upon  a  time  he  showed  to 

114 


Dr.  Baker  a  woman  who  had  been  bedridden  for  nine  years  and  under 
treatment  for  many  years,  but  who  at  last  was  completely  cured.  In 
another  case  over  twenty  operations  had  been  done  in  his  effort  to  cure  an 
inveterate  condition,  and  it  was  hard  to  understand  which  was  most  to  be 
admired,  the  patience  of  the  operator  or  the  utter  confidence  of  the  patient 
which  eventually  allowed  of  a  good  result  in  the  case. 

FIRST  TEACHER  OF  ASEPSIS. 

One  of  the  most  admirable  features  of  Emmet's  teaching  was  his 
insistence  on  absolute  cleanliness  in  the  patient  to  a  degree  that  was 
considered  quite  unnecessary  at  that  time.  The  other  feature  was  the 
cleanliness  of  the  surgeon  with  cleansing  of  hands,  that  was  most  punc- 
tilious at  a  time  long  before  Lister's  ideas  began  to  circulate,  or  before 
Pasteur  had  shown  the  necessity  for  such  precautions.  The  Woman's 
Hospital  in  New  York  was  for  many  years  a  monument  to  Emmet's  infinite 
capacity  for  taking  pains.  The  new  Woman's  Hospital  that  is  rising  on 
the  Heights  will  be  a  memorial  of  his  life  work,  for  there  would  have  been 
no  Woman's  Hospital  but  for  what  he  showed  could  be  accomplished. 

THE   MEDICAL   AUTHOR. 

Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon,  of  Portland,  Maine,  said  that  the  distinctive  feature 
of  Emmet's  work  at  the  Woman's  Hospital  was  the  permeation  of  all  that 
he  did  by  common  sense.  His  method  of  teaching  was  typical  of  this 
quality.  Only  a  few  students  were  admitted  to  see  the  operations,  but 
they  literally  sat  at  his  feet  and  saw  the  wonderful  work  that  he  did  close 
up  and  never  so  well  done  as  he  knew  how  to  do  it.  This  quality  of 
common  sense  pervades  Emmet's  text-book  on  the  practice  of  gynecology, 
and  though  now  it  is  considered  by  the  present  generation  as  out  of  date, 
this  is  unfortunate,  for  it  will  be  found  to  contain,  either  in  actual  teaching 
or  practice,  all  that  is  taught  to-day.  In  attention  to  detail  there  is  no 
text-book  on  gynecology  that  can  compare  with  it.  Many  a  more  modern 
text-book  has  been  made  out  of  it,  more  or  less  unconsciously  at  times,  and 
very  few  of  them  contain  more  than  Emmet's  has,  except  in  the  matter  of 
illustrations.  Emmet  was  indefatigable  in  research,  ceaseless  in  industry, 
and  his  text-book  shows  his  power  of  observation.  He  told  things  as  he 
saw  them.  Such  observations  are  never  out  of  date,  and  are  always  a 
source  of  interest. 

EMMET  AS  A  FRIEND. 

Dr.  George  Tucker  Harrison,  of  New  York,  said  that  Emmet's  friends 
were  literally  bound  to  him,  in  the  words  of  old  Polonius,  by  hooks  of 
steel.  Besides  this  inner  circle  of  friends,  few  men  have  ever  had  so  many 
professional  brethren  who  considered  themselves  as  enjoying  the  privilege 
of  friendship.  His  personality  was  such  that  all  those  who  approached 
him  felt  the  intimate  sympathy  of  the  man.  All  over  this  country  there 
are  students  from  the  Woman's  Hospital  who  feel  a  close  relationship  to 
Emmet,  and  who  value  this  feeling  as  one  of  the  privileges  of  their  pro- 
fessional life.  It  is  because  of  this  that  so  many  have  gathered  to  honor 
him  to-night,  and  that  honor  must  represent  the  friendly  feelings  that  all 
are  so  ready  to  exhibit  on  an  occasion  like  this. 

JI5 


THE  PATRIOT. 

Dr.  Francis  J.  Quinlan,  of  New  York,  said  that  the  Emmets  hacL^been 
originally  English  who  settled  in  Ireland  some  seven  centuries  ago,  like 
so  many  other  of  the  English  who  lived  in  Ireland,  intermarried  with 
the  natives,  and  became  more  Irish  than  the  Irish  themselves.  Seven 
generations  of  the  Emmets  have  been  distinguished  physicians.  At  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century  it  was  an  Emmet  who  led  the  first  move- 
ment against  English  tyranny,  and  out  of  the  sentiment  created  by  the 
cause  for  which  Robert  Emmet  died  has  sprung  all  of  the  modern  move- 
ments that  have  benefited  Ireland  so  much.  When  the  Emmets  came  to 
America,  in  a  generation  they  became  as  American  as  any  of  those  who 
had  been  here  for  generations.  Patriots  they  have  been  in  both  countries, 
well  worthy  the  honor  of  their  fellow  citizens.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet 
conferred  honor  on  the  land  of  his  adoption,  and  the  Emmet  who  is  being 
honored  to-night  has,  by  his  book  on  England's  misrule  of  Ireland,  done 
more  to  set  Ireland's  cause  fairly  before  the  world  of  letters  than  any  man 
of  his  generation.  For  the  men  whose  lives  mean  much  for  the  countries 
in  which  they  lived  there  cannot  be  too  much  honor,  and  so  the  tribute  of 
this  evening  is  only  an  expression  of  feelings  pent  up  so  long  that  at  last 

they  had  to  find  issue. 

FAME  ABROAD. 

Sir  William  Hingston,  of  Montreal,  said  it  was  a  pleasure  and  a 
privilege  for  him  to  accept  the  invitation  to  be  present  at  the  dinner  for 
Dr.  Emmet,  for  besides  the  reverence  for  his  scientific  work,  to  know  him 
was  to  love  him  and  respect  him.  In  traveling  over  Europe  Dr.  Hingston 
had  found  that  no  name  was  so  commonly  mentioned  in  continental  clinics 
as  that  of  Emmet.  This  was  true  not  only  in  the  larger  cities,  but  even  in 
the  smaller  university  towns.  Practical  gynecologists  thought  no  encomium 
too  high  to  pay  to  his  worth  as  a  man  and  a  physician.  Personal  friends 
of  his  know  that  he  well  deserves  the  expression  that  the  French  inhabit- 
ants of  Canada  sometimes  use  with  regard  to  a  man  whom  they  thoroughly 
respect — "that  he  is  white  all  through."  It  is  not  this  operation  or  that; 
it  is  not  his  book  that  means  most  in  Emmet's  career,  but  it  is  the  example 
of  his  sterling  honesty  in  his  profession  and  the  fact  that  he  has  never  done 
anything  small  or  petty.  Never  did  he  do  an  operation  for  the  sake  of 
doing  it.  With  regard  to  one  operation  which  has  been  much  vulgar- 
ized in  recent  years,  Dr.  Emmet  once  said  to  Dr.  Hingston  that  he  would 
rather  that  a  few  women  should  have  suffered  without  alleviation  than 
that  so  many  should  have  been  operated  upon  without  reason,  and  that 
he  would  almost  prefer  not  to  have  been  the  originator  of  the  operation. 
Dr.  Hingston  said  that  in  Canada  Dr.  Emmet's  estimation  is  at  least  as 
high  as  in  his  native  country,  and  the  tribute  he  bears  represents  the 
feeling  of  the  profession  across  the  line. 

SOME  MEMORIES. 

In  his  closing  address,  Dr.  Emmet  said  that  an  Irish  friend  of  his,  who 
was  very  old,  announced  that  he  expected  to  see  his  friends  only  once  more, 
and  that  at  his  funeral.  Personally,  he  is  very  glad  that  he  has  the  oppor- 
tunity to  see  his  friends  before  the  funeral.     During  the  week  that  has 

116 


passed  since  he  learned  of  the  dinner  that  was  to  be  given  him,  he  has  felt 
that  if  he  were  a  woman  he  would  go  off  into  a  corner  and  have  a  good  cry- 
over  it.  Some  of  the  memories  of  the  past  come  crowding  back,  and  per- 
haps there  is  nothing  that  he  could  tell  of  more  interest.  Since  the  age  of 
thirteen  he  has  had  to  hoe  his  own  row.  As  a  boy  he  had  been  a  kind  of 
a  Buster  Brown.  He  many  a  time  had  his  ride  through  the  streets  of 
Charlottesville  on  a  razor-back  hog.  As  he  grew  older  he  preferred  to  roam 
the  mountains  with  his  gun  to  working  at  his  books,  until  finally  he  was 
dismissed  from  college.  Drink  or  cards  meant  no  temptation  to  him,  but 
the  sunlight  was  irresistible.  Dunglison  desired  him  to  study  medicine. 
After  he  had  heard  his  first  medical  lecture  he  knew  there  was  something 
ahead  of  him.  He  lived  on  four  dollars  a  week  for  his  board  and  all  his 
living  expenses  were  kept  under  three  hundred  dollars  a  year  for  the  four 
years  at  the  Jefferson.  Macneven  suggested  the  taking  of  the  examination 
for  the  Emigrant  Hospital  in  New  York,  and  there  Dr.  Emmet  was  placed 
in  charge  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  patients ;  one  hundred  were  suffering 
from  ship  fever.  In  ten  days  he  was  down  with  the  disease  himself.  After 
his  recovery  he  interested  himself  in  every  detail  of  the  hospital  work. 
He  volunteered  to  make  the  autopsies  and  made  over  one  thousand. 
After  his  service  as  resident  he  was  given  a  position  of  visiting  physician, 
though  he  was  twenty  years  the  junior  of  the  next  man  on  the  staff.  His 
salary  was  four  dollars  a  day  and  he  got  married  on  that.  Then  came 
Sims  and  the  Woman's  Hospital  experience,  and  his  vocation  in  life  was 
decided.  When  he  came  to  New  York  he  had  three  hundred  dollars  and 
was  very  glad  to  make  visits  in  the  tenements  for  twenty-five  cents  a 
visit,  and  was  especially  rejoiced  when  the  money  was  paid  on  the  spot. 
He  has  been  blessed  beyond  the  average,  and  something  of  the  blessings 
he  has  tried  to  pay  back  by  helping  young  medical  men  when  he  could. 
At  seventy-five  he  began  the  study  of  Irish,  and  has  found  it  one  of  the 
consolations  of  his  latter  years.  To  all  physicians  he  would  say,  have  a 
hobby  and  get  as  much  fun  out  of  it  as  you  can.  A  celebration  like  this 
to-night  made  him  feel  forty  again,  and  the  only  thing  that  he  could  wish 
to  all  the  friends  who  have  been  so  kind  to  him  is  that  life  may  flow  on  as 
full  of  sunshine  for  them  to  the  end  of  a  long,  long  life,  as  it  has  for  him. 


NEW     YORK     MEDICAL     JOURNAL, 

JUNE  3,  1905. 


THE   EMMET   DINNER. 

The  dinner  given  at  Delmonico's  last  Monday  evening,  in  celebration 
of  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet's  seventy-seventh  birthday,  was  even  more 
largely  attended  than  had  been  expected,  and  an  enthusiastic  spirit  pre- 
vailed. In  the  formal  toasts  the  various  phases  of  Dr.  Emmet's  activities 
were  specified,  his  career  as  a  surgeon,  his  contributions  to  history,  his 
achievements  in  art,  etc.  The  proceedings  constituted  a  well-merited 
tribute. 

117 


Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  was  honored  on  his  seventy-seventh  birth- 
day, on  May  29,  at  a  dinner  given  at  Delmonico's  by  his  medical  friends. 
About  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  guests  were  present.  Dr.  T^mmet 
was  escorted  to  the  dinner  by  Archbishop  Farley,  who  pronounced  a  bless- 
ing and  also  made  a  brief  speech.  Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of  Chicago,  made  the 
address  of  introduction.  Others  who  spoke  were  Dr.  W.  M.  Polk,  Dr.  W. 
H.  Baker,  of  Boston ;  Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon,  of  Portland,  Maine ;  Dr.  George  T. 
Harrison,  and  Dr.  F.  J.  Quinlan.  In  his  remarks  Archbishop  Farley  said: 
"  I  never  felt  more  of  a  layman  than  I  do  at  this  dinner  given  to  the  emi- 
nent physician,  Dr.  Emmet.  Honor  is  due  to  him  who  stands  at  the  head  of 
the  medical  profession.  What  he  has  achieved  in  literature,  medicine,  and 
surgery  is  more  than  sufficient  for  any  one  man.  He  has  lifted  up  for 
himself  a  monument  for  work  that  will  stand  long  after  he  is  in  his  grave. " 


NEW     YORK     TIMES, 

MAY;  30,  1905. 

High  praise  of  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  was  uttered  by  Archbishop 
Farley  at  a  dinner  given  in  Delmonico's  by  the  doctor's  medical  friends  to 
mark  the  seventy-seventh  anniversary  of  his  birth.  About  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  guests  were  present.  The  room  was  decorated  with 
American  Beauties,  a  large  Irish  flag  hung  over  the  speakers'  table,  and 
Irish  melodies  were  played.  Dr.  W.  M.  Polk  spoke  of  Dr.  Emmet  as 
"The  Surgeon,"  Dr.  W.  H.  Baker  as  "The  Teacher,"  Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon 
as  "The  Medical  Author,"  Archbishop  Farley  as  "The  Litterateur,"  Dr. 
George  T.  Harrison  as  "The  Friend,"  and  Dr.  F.  J.  Quinlan  as  "The 
Patriot."  "I  am  afraid  many  of  you  will  be  shocked,"  said  the  Arch- 
bishop, "when  I  say  there  are  authors  here  and  in  the  outside  world 
who  would  be  glad  to  be  the  author  of  '  Ireland  Under  English  Rule,  Etc.,' 
and  carry  the  laurels  that  are  on  Dr.  Emmet's  head.  His  labors  in 
literature  and  in  the  medical  and  surgical  lines  are  more  than  sufficient 
for  any  one  man." 


NEW     YORK     IRISH-AMERICAN, 

JUNE  3,  1905. 

A  graceful  but  well  deserved  compliment  was  paid  to  the  venerable 
Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  by  his  professional  associates  last  Monday 
evening  in  the  dinner  tendered  to  him  at  Delmonico's.  Since  his  illus- 
trious ancestor  and  namesake  first  came  to  this  city  a  hundred  years  ago, 
the  Emmets  have  been  in  the  very  first  rank  of  its  social,  professional,  and 
political  life.  In  the  honors  they  have  won  the  worthy  recipient  of  the 
present  testimonial  has  not  been  the  least  prominent.  He  has  been  the 
guide,  philosopher,  and  friend  of  a  generation  who  hold  him  in  profound 
and  grateful  veneration,  and  with  his  legion  of  other  admirers  now  wish 
him  the  enjoyment  of  many  years  yet  to  come  of  his  useful  life. 

118 


Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  was  honored  on  his  seventy-seventh  birth- 
day last  Monday  night  at  a  dinner  given  at  Delmonico's  by  his  medical 
friends.     About  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  guests  were  present. 

Dr.  Emmet  was  escorted  to  the  dinner  by  Archbishop  Farley,  who  pro- 
nounced the  blessing  and  also  made  a  brief  speech.  Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of 
Chicago,  made  the  address  of  introduction.  Others  who  spoke  were  Dr. 
W.  M.  Polk,  Dr.  W.  H.  Baker,  of  Boston ;  Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon,  of  Portland, 
Maine;  Dr.  George  T.  Harrison,  and  Dr.  F.  J.  Quinlan. 

In  his  remarks  Archbishop  Farley  said:  "I  never  felt  more  of  a  lay- 
man than  I  do  at  this  dinner  given  to  the  eminent  physician,  Dr.  Emmet. 
Honor  is  due  to  him  who  stands  at  the  head  of  the  medical  profession. 
What  he  has  achieved  in  literature,  medicine,  and  surgery  is  more  than 
sufficient  for  any  one  man.  He  has  lifted  up  for  himself  a  monument  for 
work  that  will  stand  long  after  he  is  in  his  grave." 


THE     IRISH     WORLD, 

NEW  YORK,  JUNE  17,  1905, 

Reprinted  the  report  from  "The  Medical  News"  of  the  dinner,  with  the 
heading,  "A  Well-Merited  Tribute  to  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  One  of 
the  Noblest  of  Men  and  the  Most  Distinguished  Physician  in  America." 


NEW  YORK  FREEMAN'S  JOURNAL. 


DR.  THOMAS   ADDIS   EMMET  AT  A  TESTIMONIAL 
DINNER. 

"  The  Medical  News,"  a  newspaper  of  New  York,  has  an  account  of  a 
testimonial  dinner  given  to  Dr.  Emmet  at  Delmonico's  on  the  29th  of  May, 
his  seventy-seventh  birthday.  Many  of  the  celebrated  doctors  of  the 
country  were  at  it.  Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of  Chicago,  was  the  chairman. 
Many  doctors  were  there,  and  so  was  the  Most  Reverend  John  Farley, 
Archbishop  of  New  York.  Many  speeches  were  made  by  the  many 
eminent  men  present.  We  let  you  see  a  little  of  what  the  Archbishop 
said,  and  of  what  Dr.  Emmet  himself  said. 

The  Archbishop,  speaking  to  the  toast  of  Dr.  Emmet  as  a  historian 
and  writer,  said:  "  That  while  he  was  the  only  non-medical  man  present, 
that  fact  only  added  to  his  readiness  and  his  happiness  to  have  the  privi- 
lege of  bringing  his  tribute  to  his  friend,  Dr.  Emmet.  The  injunction  of 
Ecclesiastes  is,  '  honor  the  physician,  for  in  the  days  of  illness  you  will 
fall  into  his  hands.'  Dr.  Emmet's  literary  work  that  has  attracted  most 
attention  is  undoubtedly  his  work  '  Ireland  Under  English  Rule,  Etc. ' 
This  book  serves  to  show  very  well  that  while  physicians  greet  him  as  a 
leader  in  his  own  profession,  he  knows  many  things  apart  from  his  life 
work.     An  American  born,  but  with  the  blood  of  distinguished  Irishmen  in 

119 


his  veins,  he  set  himself  to  show  the  world  what  were  the  reasons  why  men 
of  Irish  birth  and  Irish  ancestry  ever  hold  in  detestation  the  part  that 
England  has  played  in  Ireland's  history.  While  his  ancestry  made  the 
motive  noblesse  oblige  the  principal  motive  of  his  book,  the  cause  of  truth 
must  have  been  the  main  directing  idea.  Nine  hundred  volumes  were 
consulted  in  the  preparation  for  it,  and  the  last  word  on  the  subject  is  said 
for  this  generation.  His  conclusions  are  worthy  of  the  greatness  of  soul 
of  a  really  great  man." 

We  know  Dr.  Emmet  has  had  of  late  years  a  professor  of  the  Irish 
language  teaching  him  Irish.  In  the  following  part  of  his  speech,  which 
we  print,  he  wittily  alludes  to  that  fact.  He  said  that  an  Irish  friend  of 
his,  who  was  very  old,  announced  that  he  expected  to  see  his  friends  only 
once  more,  and  that  at  his  funeral.  Personally,  he  is  very  glad  that  he  has 
the  opportunity  to  see  his  friends  before  the  funeral.  During  the  week 
that  has  passed  since  he  learned  of  the  dinner  that  was  to  be  given  him, 
he  has  felt  that  if  he  were  a  woman  he  would  go  off  into  a  corner  and 
have  a  good  cry  over  it.  Some  of  the  memories  of  the  past  come  crowd- 
ing back,  and  perhaps  there  is  nothing  that  he  could  tell  of  more  interest. 

Since  the  age  of  thirteen  he  has  had  to  hoe  his  own  row.  As  a  boy  he 
had  been  a  kind  of  a  Buster  Brown.  He  had  many  a  time  had  his  ride 
through  the  streets  of  Charlottesville  on  a  razor-back  hog.  As  he  grew 
older  he  preferred  to  roam  the  mountains  with  his  gun  to  working  at  his 
books,  until  finally  he  was  dismissed  from  college.  Drink  or  cards  meant 
no  temptation  to  him,  but  the  sunlight  was  irresistible.  Dunglison  desired 
him  to  study  medicine.  After  he  had  heard  his  first  medical  lecture  he 
knew  there  was  something  ahead  of  him.  He  lived  on  four  dollars  a  week 
and  all  his  expenses  were  keep  under  three  hundred  dollars  a  year  for 
the  four  years  at  the  Jefferson. 

MAKING  FOUR  DOLLARS  A  DAY  WHEN  HE  MARRIED. 

Macneven  suggested  the  taking  of  the  examination  for  the  Emigrant 
Hospital  in  New  York,  and  Dr.  Emmet  had  charge  of  two  hundred  and 
fifty  patients,  one  hundred  of  whom  were  suffering  from  ship  fever.  In 
ten  days  he  was  down  with  the  disease  himself.  After  his  recovery  he 
interested  himself  in  every  detail  of  the  hospital  work.  He  volunteered 
to  make  the  autopsies  and  made  over  one  thousand.  After  his  service  as 
resident  he  was  given  a  position  of  visiting  physician,  though  he  was 
twenty  years  the  junior  of  the  next  man  on  the  staff.  He  was  given  four 
dollars  a  day  and  got  married  on  that.  Then  came  Sims  and  the  Woman's 
Hospital  experience,  and  his  vocation  in  life  was  decided.  When  he  came 
to  New  York  he  had  three  hundred  dollars  and  was  very  glad  to  make 
visits  in  the  tenements  for  twenty-five  cents  a  visit,  and  was  especially 
rejoiced  when  the  money  was  paid  on  the  spot. 

He  had  been  blessed  beyond  the  average,  and  something  of  the  bless- 
ings he  has  tried  to  pay  for  by  helping  young  medical  men  whenever  he 
could.  At  seventy-five  he  began  the  study  of  Irish,  and  has  found  it  one 
of  the  consolations  of  his  latter  years.  To  all  physicians  he  would  say, 
have  a  hobby  and  get  as  much  fun  out  of  it  as  you  can.  A  celebration  like 
this  to-night  made  him  feel  forty  again,  and  the  only  thing  that  he  could 

120 


wish  to  all  the  friends  who  have  been  so  kind  to  him  was  that  life  might 
flow  on  as  full  of  sunshine  for  them  to  the  end  of  a  long,  long  life,  as  it 
had  for  him. 


WEEKLY     FREEMAN'S     JOURNAL, 

DUBLIN,  JULY  1,  1905. 

"  He  began  and  carried  to  perfection  that  genuine  bedside  training  of 
pupils  which  constituted  the  corner  stone  of  what  is  best  and  most  pro- 
gressive in  our  modern  medical  education.  For  this  the  medical  profession 
of  America  owes  Dr.  Emmet  a  debt  that  will  never  be  adequately  repaid." 
This  is  how  the  American  "  Medical  News"  writes  about  Dr.  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet  in  connection  with  the  testimonial  dinner  given  to  him  recently  on 
his  seventy-seventh  birthday.  The  same  writer  states  that  Dr.  Emmet 
' '  was  one  of  those  who  first  carried  the  fame  of  American  surgery  and 
especially  of  gynecology  into  European  climes,  and  few  men  have  ever 
been  so  widely  known  in  the  medical  world  or  so  favorably  appreciated. 
His  was  not  the  work  of  a  great  genius,  but  of  a  supreme  practical  talent." 
To  Dr.  Emmet,  we  are  further  told,  America  owes  the  first  effective  clinical 
teaching.  Long  before  the  days  of  scientific  asepsis,  with  its  groundwork 
in  the  knowledge  of  bacteriology,  too,  it  is  pointed  out,  Dr.  Emmet  "  insisted 
on  a  cleanliness  of  patient  and  physician  that  was  a  definite  anticipation 
of  what  is  most  valuable  in  the  modern  methods.  In  the  treatment  of 
chronic  pelvic  inflammation  Emmet  occupied  the  conservative  standpoint 
thirty  years  ago  to  which  gynecologists  have  in  recent  years  returned 
again  after  having  tried  the  effect  of  operations  of  many  kinds.  After  a 
period  of  partial  eclipse  Emmet's  work  is  once  more  coming  to  be  the 
illuminating  principle  of  many  procedures  in  gynecology." 

The  tribute  paid  to  Dr.  Emmet  by  his  professional  brethren  of  America 
must  have  been  very  grateful  to  him ;  but  it  could  not  possibly  be  more 
grateful  to  him  than  it  has  been  to  what  we  may  call  his  fellow  countrymen 
in  Ireland.  For  Dr.  Emmet  not  only  owns  an  historic  Irish  name,  but  lives 
it  also.  He  is  one  of  the  best  friends  Ireland  has,  or  has  ever  had,  in  the 
United  States.  At  the  conclusion  of  the  banquet  he  stated  that  his  hobby 
just  now  was  the  Gaelic  language,  which  he  began  to  learn  at  the  age  of 
seventy-five  years.  We  may  well  say  that  if  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet 
is  a  credit  to  the  medical  profession  in  America,  that  he  is  surely  also  a 
credit  and  an  honor  to  our  race  in  that  country,  and  an  inspiration  also  to 
our  people  there,  from  the  humblest  to  the  highest. 


THE     MESSENGER, 

NEW  YORK,  JULY,  1905. 


A    DESERVED   TRIBUTE. 

On  Monday  evening,  May  29,  over  one  hundred  physicians  from 
various  parts  of  this  country  and  Canada  assembled  at  Delmonico's,  New 
York,  at  a  banquet  in  commemoration  of  the  seventy-seventh  birthday  of 


Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet.  Dr.  Emmet  was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  most 
distinguished  physicians  of  the  generation  just  past  and  the  one  to  whom, 
most  of  all  of  those  now  living,  America  owes  whatever  reputation  it  has 
for  progressive  surgery.  His  name  is  probably  better  known  in  European 
clinics  than  that  of  any  other  fellow  countryman,  and  to  have  been  a  pupil 
of  his  secures  a  welcome  for  the  physician  traveling  in  Europe  better  than 
any  open  sesame.  Dr.  Emmet  has'  lived  to  reap  the  reward  of  years  of 
faithful  service  in  his  profession,  and  the  present  tribute  is  only  a  public 
manifestation  of  feelings  that  have  long  been  cherished  for  the  eminent 
surgeon,  the  broadly  cultured  scholar,  the  practical  teacher  to  whom  medi- 
cine and  the  medical  profession  in  America  owes  so  much,  but  above  all 
for  the  courteous  gentleman  whom  to  know  has  always  been  to  love  and 
honor. 

Dr.  Emmet  came  to  New  York,  as  a  young  man,  on  his  own  resources, 
with  only  his  desire  for  work  in  his  chosen  profession,  and  a  thorough 
knowledge  of  medicine  of  the  time,  as  his  capital.  His  first  years  of 
service  were  in  the  Emigrant  Hospital.  Like  many  another,  he  had  his 
first  experience  of  all  that  suffering  could  mean  among  the  emigrants  from 
Ireland,  so  many  of  whom  came  afflicted  with  ship  fever,  as  the  dread 
typhus  was  called  at  that  time.  Few  of  the  young  physicians  of  that 
period  escaped  infection  with  the  disease,  but  this  did  not  deter  them  from 
faithfully  fulfilling  their  professional  duties.  Emmet  had  his  turn  with  the 
disease  in  the  first  days  of  his  professional  career,  but,  far  from  dishearten- 
ing him,  this  only  seemed  to  give  him  a  larger  sympathy  for  the  poor 
sufferers,  and  a  more  intense  desire  to  learn  all  possible  about  the  maladies 
that  were  passing  under  his  observation.  He  volunteered  to  make  the 
autopsies  at  the  hospital,  and  during  his  service  actually  made  over  one 
thousand.  It  is  no  wonder  that,  after  professional  zeal  like  this,  when  his 
term  as  resident  physician  was  finished,  he  was  offered,  though  twenty 
years  the  junior  of  any  other  member  of  the  visiting  staff,  a  position  on 
that  staff  which  had  just  become  vacant. 

Even  this  much  of  his  career  sounds  the  keynote  of  Dr.  Emmet's 
success.  He  had  the  genius  for  hard  work,  and  no  trouble  was  too  much 
to  take  if  it  only  promised  to  give  him  added  knowledge.  When  the  oppor- 
tunity came  to  assume  a  position  at  the  Woman's  Hospital  in  New  York, 
this  talent  for  unfailing  application  soon  put  him  in  the  leading  position  in 
his  specialty.  His  methods  attracted  attention  first  in  this  country  and 
then  before  many  years  in  every  clinic  in  Europe.  The  Woman's  Hospital 
of  New  York  City  was  recognized  by  the  medical  world  as  one  of  the  insti- 
tutions that  was  doing  most  for  true  progress  in  medicine.  Emmet  was 
not  a  lecturer,  but  a  teacher.  Only  a  limited  number  of  students  were 
admitted  to  his  operations,  but  these  were  given  every  opportunity  to  study 
all  the  details  of  the  cases,  and  took  away  with  them  such  definite  ideas  as 
had  never  been  given  by  a  medical  teacher  before  in  America,  at  least. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  to  Emmet  must  be  attributed  the  initiation  of 
genuine  bedside  teaching  in  America,  his  work  constituting  the  first  oasis 
in  the  rather  arid  desert  of  medical  education  a  half  century  ago. 

Dr.  Emmet  was  more  than  a  teacher ;  he  was  an  original  investigator 
of  high  order.     Long  before  Lord  Lister  insisted  on  the  necessity  for  pre- 

122 


caution  to  prevent  the  external  infection  of  patients,  Emmet  emphatically 
taught  and  practiced  the  custom  of  thoroughly  cleansing  all  surfaces  that 
were  to  be  operated  upon,  and  insisted  that  the  surgeon  himself  should  take 
special  care  in  securing  his  own  cleanliness.  In  more  modern  times  this 
has  become  the  almost  sacrificial  rubric  known  as  asepsis  in  surgery.  The 
important  portions  of  this,  however,  had  been  very  carefully  laid  down  by 
Emmet  almost  half  a  century  ago.  In  the  matter  of  operating  he  has  even 
a  higher  distinction.  For  many  years  he  taught  and  practiced  that  certain 
forms  of  chronic  inflammation  could  be  best  treated  not  by  direct  operative 
procedures,  but  by  careful  conservative  measures  tending  to  reduce  the 
inflammation  present,  and  increase  the  vitality  of  the  patient  in  such  a  way 
as  to  bring  about  an  absorption  of  inflammatory  products.  After  having 
tried  the  radical  operative  procedures  for  many  years,  surgeons  have  now 
come  to  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  Emmet's  principle  of  teaching, 
enunciated  so  long  ago,  is  the  proper  one. 

Some  one  has  said  that  the  really  great  man  can  be  told  even  more 
readily  from  his  avocation  than  from  his  vocation — that  what  a  man  does  at 
his  leisure  is  the  best  index  of  his  character  and  culture.  In  this  Dr. 
Emmet  is  indeed  a  model  to  all  professional  men.  He  spent  much  of  his 
spare  time  and  a  large  part  of  his  fortune  in  the  collection  of  books  and 
documents  illustrative  of  early  American  history.  His  collection  is 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  best  of  its  kind  that  was  ever  made.  As  the  result  of 
his  hobby  many  precious  documents  that  might  have  been  lost  are  now 
preserved,  since  his  interest  was  infectious,  and  others  became  attracted  to 
this  field  of  bibliography.  A  monument  to  this  side  of  Dr.  Emmet's  char- 
acter is  his  collection,  which  may  be  seen  at  the  Lenox  Library  in  New 
York,  as  a  manifestation  of  the  generous  patriotic  spirit  of  an  American 
physician. 

We  can  only  wish  Dr.  Emmet  many  happy  returns  of  the  birthday 
that  was  celebrated  so  worthily  and  wish  him  all  good  things  in  the  years 
that  may  be  his.  Bismarck,  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  when  asked  what 
period  of  life  he  had  found  the  happiest,  is  said  to  have  replied  that  he 
used  to  think  that  all  the  good  things  of  life  were  in  the  first  seventy  years ; 
but  that  now  he  knew  that  there  were  many  supremely  happy  moments  in 
the  second  seventy  years  of  life.  May  Dr.  Emmet  find  these  supreme 
moments  in  profusion  in  his  second  seventy  years.     Quodfaustum  vert  at ! 


THE     POST-GRADUATE, 

NEW  YORK,  JULY,  1905. 
The  medical  event  of  the  month  in  New  York  was  the  dinner  to  Dr. 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  at  Delmonico's,  on  the  29th  of  May.  A  large  num- 
ber of  guests  were  present.  Dr.  Emmet  was  escorted  to  his  seat  by  Arch- 
bishop Farley,  who  made  an  address,  among  other  things  remarking  that 
he  never  felt  himself  so  much  of  a  layman  as  in  the  presence  of  Dr. 
Emmet,  who  had  not  only  distinguished  himself  in  medicine  but  in  litera- 
ture.    Speeches  were  made  by  Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of  Chicago;  Dr.  W.  H. 

123 


Baker,  of  Boston;  Dr.  Gordon,  of  Portland,  Maine;  Dr.  George  T.  Harri- 
son; Dr.  F.  I.  Quinlan,  and  Professor  William  M.  Polk.  Dr.  Polk  paid  a 
high  tribute  to  Dr.  Emmet's  scientific  position,  and  also  to  his  capacity  of 
being  able  to  progress  constantly  in  his  work,  and  change  his  opinions  if 
necessary.  Dr.  Emmet  was  in  the  best  of  form,  bearing  his  years  abso- 
lutely well,  and  in  his  remarks  brought  up  many  reminiscences  of  the  early 
days  of  medical  practice  in  New  York.  Dr.  Emmet's  career  is  in  so  many 
respects  such  a  distinguished  one  as  to  be  worthy  of  most  particular  atten- 
tion. We  have,  therefore,  presented  his  picture  for  our  readers,  while  we 
dwell  on  a  few  points  in  his  life  and  that  of  his  ancestors.  His  great-uncle 
was  the  Robert  Emmet  who  was  executed  for  a  political  crime.  His 
speech  before  execution  remains  one  of  the  classics  of  our  language. 


There  have  always  been  distinguished  physicians  in  the  Emmet 
family.  Dr.  Emmet's  great-grandfather,  Robert  Emmet,  the  father  of 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  the  lawyer  in  New  York,  was  a  physician  of  great 
prominence  in  Dublin.  His  grandfather,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  who  sub- 
sequently became  a  lawyer  of  such  marked  national  reputation,  first  studied 
medicine,  and  then  changing  his  mind  about  a  calling,  became  a  lawyer. 
Being  accused  of  rebellion  for  organizing  the  United  Irishmen,  he  was 
placed  for  some  time  in  Kilmainham  jail,  in  Dublin,  and  was  afterwards 
sent  for  two  years  to  Fort  George,  in  Scotland.  After  the  English  treaty 
with  the  French  he  was  released,  and  went  to  France  and  Belgium.  He 
came  to  New  York  in  1804.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Ohio,  which  was  then 
the  great  West;  but  Governor  George  Clinton,  a  north  of  Ireland  man, 
married  to  an  Ulster  County  Dutch  woman,  War  Governor  of  the  State  of 
New  York  during  the  Revolution,  urged  him  strongly  to  stay  in  New  York, 
which  he  did.  One  of  his  sons  was  John  Patten  Emmet,  who  was  a  physi- 
cian studying  medicine  in  New  York,  with  the  celebrated  Dr.  W.  J. 
Macneven.  He  devoted  himself  specially  to  chemistry,  which  he  taught  in 
Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  where  our 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  the  son  of  Dr.  Patten  Emmet,  was  born  seventy- 
eight  years  ago.  His  grandfather  was  buried  in  St.  Mark's  Churchyard, 
Second  Avenue,  and  his  cenotaph  is  in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard.  The 
Emmet  family  has  always  had  one  or  more  members  in  medicine.  Dr. 
Bache  Emmet  of  our  school  is  a  son  of  William  Colville  Emmet,  a  younger 
brother  of  Professor  Patten  Emmet,  while  Dr.  Duncan  Emmet  is  a  son  of 
the  subject  of  our  sketch. 


After  a  thorough  general  training  in  the  University  of  Virginia,  Dr. 
Thomas  Addis  Emmet  was  graduated  in  medicine  from  Jefferson  Medical 
College  in  1850.  He  was  at  a  very  early  date  after  that  appointed  visiting 
physician  to  the  Emigrants'  Refuge  Hospital  on  Ward's  Island,  where  he 
did  a  vast  amount  of  excellent  work.  He  became  a  pupil  of  Marion  Sims 
and  was  made  assistant  surgeon  to  the  Woman's  Hospital  in  May,  1855. 
He  succeeded  Dr.  Sims  as  surgeon-in-chief  in  1S61,  a  position  which  he 

124 


^ 


held  until  1872,  and  from  that  time  until  very  recently  he  has  been  visiting 
surgeon  to  the  Woman's  Hospital.  As  is  well  known,  there  is  now  an 
interregnum  in  the  existence  of  the  hospital,  the  former  property  having 
been  sold,  and  the  erection  of  the  new  btiilding  has  been  going  on  for  the 
last  two  years. 

Dr.  Emmet's  famous  work  on  "The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Gyne- 
cology "  was  received  with  applause  throughout  the  medical  world,  was 
translated  into  German  and  French,  and  we  are  told  on  the  very  best  of 
authority  that  many  of  his  suggestions  and  ideas  have  been  adopted,  but 
not  always  with  proper  credit,  so  that  sometimes  European  authorities 
have  the  name  of  what  really  belongs  to  Dr.  Emmet.  Certain  it  is  that 
he  achieved  an  exalted  position  in  operative  gynecology,  especially  in 
plastic  operations,  where  he  stood  unrivaled,  a  science  which  his  prede- 
cessor, Dr.  Sims,  may  be  said  to  have  created.  Dr.  Emmet  is  a  man  of 
most  versatile  ability,  exceedingly  interesting  as  a  conversationalist,  and 
is  always  a  welcome  guest,  while  for  years  he  has  dispensed  a  hospitality 
about  his  own  table  which  was  unrivaled.  The  most  celebrated  men  from 
Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  New  York  were  to  be  found  on  those 
festive  and  interesting  occasions.  No  dinner  or  reception  given  by  Dr. 
Emmet  ever  failed  to  be  a  brilliant  one. 


In  another  direction  Dr.  Emmet  used  his  talents  with  remarkable 
success.  He  made  a  collection  of  "Americana"  which  was  the  very  best  in 
any  country.  Such  authors  as  the  late  Benson  J.  Lossing  and  other  his- 
torians, besides  magazine  writers,  found  much  of  their  material  in  Dr. 
Emmet's  library  or  in  his  collection.  After  years  spent  in  gathering  them 
together,  the  collection  was  purchased  and  is  now  repeating  its  excellent 
work.  Dr.  Emmet  ever  took  an  active  interest  in  the  prosperity  of  the 
country  of  his  ancestors,  where  his  great-uncle  suffered  a  most  ignominious 
death.  He  labored  for  the  constitutional  freedom  of  Ireland,  and  up  to 
this  very  day  his  interest  remains  undiminished.  He  has  lately  published 
a  history  of  that  unhappy  country,  which  reveals  very  much  in  the  history 
of  its  oppression  which  has  hitherto  not  been  known.  In  fact,  some  of  Dr. 
Emmet's  friends  insist  that  his  devotion  to  the  Green  Isle  is  so  fervent 
that  he  traces  the  most  of  the  good  in  the  world  to  the  Celts  of  Brittany, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.  His  latest  effort  is  to  prove  that  George  Washington 
was  really  an  Irishman  and  not  of  English  parentage.  He  certainly  makes 
out  a  very  good  case.  He  has  shown  that  a  large  number  of  so-called 
English  emigrants  to  this  country  were  Irishmen,  whose  names  were 
changed  by  the  British  Government  when  they  were  sent  over  here. 


Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  was  present  at  the  organization  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  in  1847.  When  the  struggle  of  the  Medical 
Society  of  the  State  of  New  York  occurred,  as  to  liberality  in  consultations, 
and  so  forth,  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  took  an  active  part  with  the 
majority,  who  successfully  resisted  the  reenactment  of  the  old  Code  in  our 
State,  and  was  a  power  of  strength  to  the  liberal  side  in  that  contention. 

125 


Dr.  Emmet  is  a  link  to  bind  us  to  the  Medical  America  of  the  fifties 
and  sixties.  Fortunately  it  is  a  very  strong  link,  as  the  doctor  retains  his 
vigor  of  intellect  and  body.  To  the  man  who  has  contributed  very  much 
more  than  the  ordinary,  even  among  the  very  greatest  of  American  mem- 
bers of  the  profession,  the  Post-Graduate  pays  this  tribute  to  his  ability, 
which  did  so  much  for  the  advance  of  American  medicine,  American 
history,  and  for  a  character  which  was  so  long  that  many  years  of 
usefulness  may  still  be  before  him. 


BRITISH     MEDICAL     JOURNAL, 

LONDON,  AUGUST  12,  1905. 

A  dinner  was  recently  given  in  New  York  in  honor  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Addis  Emmet.  The  eminent  gynecologist,  who  took  his  degree  at  Jefferson 
Medical  College  so  long  ago  as  in  1850,  comes  of  a  family  many  members 
of  which  have  been  distinguished  in  various  spheres.  Robert  Emmet, 
whose  name  is  famous  in  the  political  history  of  Ireland,  was  his  great- 
uncle.  His  great-grandfather,  Robert  Emmet,  the  father  of  Thomas  Addis 
Emmet,  a  well-known  lawyer  in  New  York,  was  a  physician  of  great 
prominence  in  Dublin.  His  grandfather,  Thomas  Addis  Emmet,  who 
subsequently  became  a  lawyer  of  great  reputation,  first  studied  medicine, 
and  then  turned  to  the  law.  Being  accused  of  rebellion,  he  was  placed  for 
some  time  in  Kilmainham  gaol,  in  Dublin,  and  was  afterwards  sent  for 
two  years  to  Fort  George,  in  Scotland.  After  the  English  treaty  with  the 
French  he  was  released,  and  went  to  France  and  Belgium,  and  ultimately, 
in  1804,  to  New  York.  One  of  his  sons  was  John  Patten  Emmet,  a  physician 
who  devoted  himself  to  chemistry,  which  he  taught  in  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  and  in  the  University  of  Virginia.  The  present  Dr.  Thomas 
Addis  Emmet  was  a  pupil  of  Marion  Sims,  and  was  made  assistant 
surgeon  to  the  Woman's  Hospital,  New  York,  in  May,  1855.  He  succeeded 
Dr.  Sims  as  surgeon-in-chief  in  1861,  a  position  which  he  held  until  1872. 
Dr.  Emmet's  "Principles  and  Practice  of  Gynecology"  has  been  trans- 
lated into  German  and  French.  Dr.  Emmet's  professional  labors  have 
not  absorbed  all  his  energies.  He  made  a  collection  of  "Americana" 
which  is  said  to  be  one  of  the  most  interesting  things  of  the  kind.  The  late 
Benson  J.  Lossing  and  other  historians,  besides  magazine  writers,  found 
much  of  their  material  in  his  library  and  his  collection.  He  has  lately 
published  a  history  of  Ireland.  Some  of  his  friends,  we  learn  from  the  New 
York  "  Post-Graduate,"  insist  that  his  devotion  to  the  Green  Isle  is  so  fer- 
vent that  he  traces  the  most  of  the  good  in  the  world  to  the  Celts  of 
Brittany,  Scotland,  and  Ireland.  His  latest  effort  is  to  prove  that  George 
Washington  was  really  an  Irishman  and  not  of  English  parentage. 


<-r$#*><-c^fc*> 


"  IN  HIS  [THEIR]  COMMENDATIONS  I  AM  FED  ;  IT  IS  A  BANQUET  TO  ME." 

Macbeth. 

126 


"I   HAVE  BROUGHT  HIM  A  PRESENT."— Merchant  of  Venice. 


inner  to  tfje  Committee  antr  tfje 
presentation  of  tfje  Sloping  Cup 


^^m>^-~£^~^ti 


WELL,   I   PROMISED  YOU  A  DINNER."— Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

127 


"YOU  HAVE  MADE  GOOD  WORK,  YOU  AND  YOUR  APRON  MEN."— Coriolanus. 


HENRY  C.  COE,  M.  D. 


I  DO  PROCLAIM  ONE  HONEST  MAN— MISTAKE  ME  NOT— BUT  ONE; 
NO  MORE,  I  PRAY— AND  HE'S  A  STEWARD."—  Timon  of  Athens. 


«k 


Thursday  Evening. 
Dear  Dr.   Emmet: 

Through  the  kindness  of  several  friends  who  wished  to 
show  their  affection  for  you,  although  they  could  not  be  present 
at  the  dinner,  we  came  out  so  far  ahead  financially  that  I  have 
ventured  to  put  the  surplus  into  a  loving  cup.  This  will  serve 
as  a  constant  reminder  of  the  fact  you  have  that  which  should 
accompany  age — honor,  love,  obedience,  and  troops  of  friends. 

I  would  have  called  before,  but  have  had  an  attack  of  the 

grippe. 

Cordially  yours, 

H.   C.   COE. 


"WITH  THIS  REMEMBRANCE,  THAT  YOU  USE  THE  SAME."— 2  Henry  IV. 

131 


SOME  UNEVEN  AND  UNWELCOMED  NEWS  CAME  FROM  THE  NORTH." 

1  Henry  IV. 


neffy^neffy-a* 


Portland,   Maine,   June  13,  1905. 
Dear  Dr.   Emmet: 

I  am  sorry  to  write  you  that  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to 
be  present  at  your  dinner  on  the  20th  inst.  I  am  president  of 
the  Board  of  Trustees  of  an  academy  in  my  native  town  and 
our  commencement  exercises  occur  on  the  20th,  and  I  must  be 
there. 

I  am  so  glad  you  are  to  receive  the  "Loving  Cup."  We 
talked  about  it  the  night  of  your  dinner,  and  I  think  it  started 
then.  I  know  how  much  you  will  appreciate  it  and  how  much 
good  will  accompanies  the  gift.  They  all  remember  how  much 
gynecology  is  indebted  to  you.  I  can  only  renew  my  good 
wishes  for  good  health  and  happiness  so  long  as  you  live.  I 
will  send  my  manuscript  very  soon. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 

S.   C.   GORDON. 


r**3p*r**3fr^>> 


THE  GIFT  HAS  MADE  ME  HAPPY."— Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 
*33 


WHAT'S  TO  COME  IS  STILL  UNSURE:  IN  DELAY  THERE  LIES  NO  PLENTY." 

Twelfth  Night. 


Boston,   June  13,  1905. 
My  Dear  Dr.    Emmet: 

I  assure  you  nothing  could  give  me  greater  pleasure  than 
to  dine  with  you  next  Tuesday,  the  20th  inst. 

Unfortunately,  I  shall  be  obliged  to  ask  you  to  let  me  go 
in  quietly  a  few  moments  after  nine,  for  the  following  reason : 
Nearly  two  weeks  ago  I  accepted  an  invitation  to  lunch  at  one 
o'clock  on  Tuesday,  the  20th  inst.,  to  meet  Sir  William  Mather, 
who  comes  from  England  to  receive  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  from 
Princeton.  As  this  lunch  is  given  for  the  purpose  of  our  meet- 
ing, I  cannot  default.  After  spending  an  hour  at  this  lunch  I 
shall  be  excused  and  take  the  3  p.m.  train  for  New  York,  which, 
if  on  time,  would  enable  me  to  reach  your  house  at  a  few 
moments  after  nine. 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  glad  I  am  that  the  consummation 
of  the  birthday  banquet  has  taken  the  shape  of  the  loving  cup, 
which  is  most  appropriate. 

With  high  appreciation  of  the  honor  you  do  me,  and  beg- 
ging your  forbearance  for  being  late  at  your  dinner, 

I  am,   yours  most  gratefully  and  affectionately, 

WM.   H.   BAKER. 


"A  GOOD  TRAVELLER  IS  SOMETHING  AT  THE  LATTER  END  OF  A  DINNER." 

All's  Well  That  Ends  Well. 

135 


"PEACE  BE  AT  YOUR  LABOUR,  HONEST  FISHERMAN."— Pericles,  Prince  of  Tyre. 


'^^T^ 


Chicago,   June   16,    1905. 
Dear  Dr.   Emmet: 

I  am  tied  by  the  leg  and  can't  leave  Chicago  next  week 
without  disregarding  a  number  of  very  serious  obligations; 
besides  this,  there  is  a  very  important  case  in  court  involving 
serious  consequences  for  a  personal  friend,  in  which  I  expect 
to  be  in  demand  as  an  expert  witness.  I  am  sorry,  for  I  had 
hoped  to  join  you  next  Tuesday  night. 

Please  give  my  love  to  all  the  boys  and  accept  for  yourself 
the  lion's  share  of  it.  I  shall  probably  not  be  able  to  leave  home 
until  I  start  for  the  Big  Horn  Mountains,  in  Wyoming,  a  hun- 
dred miles  east  of  Yellowstone,  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
feet  above  the  sea  level,  and  forty  miles  from  railroad  or  tele- 
graph. The  five-pound  trout  that  inhabit  this  territory  are 
particularly  enterprising.  I  will  bait  my  hook  under  my  coat 
tails  in  order  to  keep  them  from  jumping  out  and  shaking 
hands  with  me  on  the  banks  of  the  stream.  Please  remember 
me  most  kindly  to  Mrs.  Emmet  and  the  other  Emmets. 

Faithfully  yours, 

E.  C.   DUDLEY. 


"WHAT  HAVE  WE  HERE?     A  MAN  OR  A  FISH?"— The  Tempest. 

137 


"WHERETO  I  HAVE  INVITED  MANY  A  GUEST,  SUCH  AS  I  LOVE." 

Romeo  and  Juliet. 


NEW     YORK     IRISH     WORLD, 

JUNE  24,  1905. 


ADDITIONAL  HONOR  FOR  DR.    THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET. 

When  the  committee  had  closed  their  account  for  the  dinner  given 
Dr.  Emmet  by  his  professional  friends  on  his  seventy-seventh  birthday, 
May  29  last,  a  surplus  remained.  The  committee  invested  this  amount 
in  a  loving  cup  designed  by  Tiffany  and  engraved  with  an  appropriate 
inscription  in  commemoration  of  the  birthday  dinner. 

This  beautiful  testimonial  was  presented,  with  fitting  ceremony,  at  a 
dinner  given  by  Dr.  Emmet  at  his  residence  to  the  committee  and  others 
on  June  20.  It  was  a  most  enjoyable  occasion,  and  we  learn  the  following 
were  Dr.  Emmet's  guests:  Dr.  Henry  C.  Coe,  Dr.  William  M.  Polk,  Dr. 
George  T.  Harrison,  Dr.  Jarman,  Dr.  William  H.  Baker,  of  Boston ;  Dr. 
Bache  Emmet,  Dr.  Edebohls,  Dr.  Malcolm  McLean,  Dr.  Boldt,  Dr. 
Dudley,  Dr.  James  J.  Walsh,  Dr.  Richard  H.  Gibbons,  Dr.  John  Aspell, 
Dr.  Quinlan,  Dr.  Vineburg,  Dr.  Broun,  Dr.  George  H.  Mallett,  Dr.  J.  N. 
West,  and  Dr.  Duncan  Emmet. 


NEW     YORK     IRISH-AMERICAN, 

JUNE  24,  1905. 


On  Tuesday  evening  Dr.  Thomas  Addis  Emmet  entertained  at  dinner 
at  his  residence,  in  Madison  Avenue,  the  members  of  the  committee  who 
organized  the  complimentary  banquet  tendered  him  at  Delmonico's  on 
May  29,  in  honor  of  his  seventy-seventh  birthday. 

It  was  an  informal  but  most  enjoyable  gathering,  and  the  venerable 
host  was  pleasurably  surprised  again  by  his  guests,  who  presented  him 
with  a  handsome  silver  loving  cup  suitably  inscribed  as  a  memento  of  the 
birthday  dinner,  and  bearing  upon  it  the  names  of  the  committee  who 
got  it  up. 


"WITNESS  THE  ENTERTAINMENT  THAT  HE  GAVE."— Venus  and  Adonis. 

J39 


"I'LL  PLEDGE  YOU  ALL."— 2  Henry  VI. 


LOVING  CUP   PRESENTED  TO   DR.  EMMET 
BY  THE   DINNER  COMMITTEE,  JUNE  20TH,  1905 


GIVE  ME  SOME  WINE;  PILL  FULL.     I  DRINK  TO  THE  GENERAL  JOY 
0'  THE  WHOLE  TABLE."— Macbeth. 


"  1  DO  DESIRE  THY  WORTHY  COMPANY,  UPON  WHOSE  FAITH  AND 
HONOUR   I   REPOSE."— Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona. 


inscription  on  t^c  Losing  Cup 


PRESENTED 

TO 

THOMAS   ADDIS    EMMET,   M.D.,   LL.D. 

IN  COMMEMORATION  OF  A  BANQUET  GIVEN    BY  HIS  PROFESSIONAL 

FRIENDS  ON   HIS  SEVENTY-SEVENTH  BIRTHDAY MAY  29TH, 

1905 IN  TOKEN  OF  THEIR  ESTEEM   AS    EXPRESSED 

IN  THE  FOLLOWING  TOASTS: 

INTRODUCTION,        -        -        -        -        -     Dr.  E.  C.  Dudley,  of  Chicago. 

"DR.  EMMET,  THE  SURGEON,"        -        -     Dr.  W.  M.  Polk,  of  New  York. 

"DR.  EMMET,  THE  TEACHER,"        -        -     Dr.  Wm.  H.  Baker,  of  Boston. 

"DR.  EMMET,  THE  MEDICAL  AUTHOR," 

Dr.  S.  C.  Gordon,  of  Portland,  Maine. 

"DR.  EMMET,  THE   LITTERATEUR," 

His  Grace,  The  Most  Rev.  Archbishop  Farley. 
"  DR.  EMMET,  THE  FRIEND,"    Dr.  George  Tucker  Harrison,  of  New  York. 
"DR.  EMMET,  THE  PATRIOT,"     -        -      Dr.  F.  J.  Quinlan,  of  New  York. 
Sir  William  Hingston,  of  Montreal,  Canada. 

HENRY  C.  COE,  M.D., 
GEORGE  H.  MALLETT,  M.D., 
LE  ROY  M.  BROUN,  M.D., 

Committee. 


*C§#*>*-H|jNt> 


J43 


STAND   FOR   MY  FATHER,  AND    EXAMINE  ME   UPON  THE  PARTICULARS  OF 
MY   LIFE."— 1  Henry  IV. 


ON  THE   REVERSE    SIDE. 


"To  the  Memory  of  My  Father. 
To  His  Example  and  Early  Training  I  owe  My 

Success  in  Life: 

In  Youth  I  Aimed  to  Merit  His  Approbation; 

In  Manhood  I  have  Striven  to  be  Worthy  of  His 

Good  Name." 

Taken  from  the  dedication  of  Dr.  Emmet's  work,  "  The  Principles  and 
Practice  of  Gynecology,"  which  he  dedicated  to  the  memory  of  his  father. 


SHOW  YOURSELF  YOUR  FATHER'S  SON  IN  DEED  MORE  THAN  IN  WORDS." 

Hamlet. 
144 


'YOU  HAVE  SHOWED  YOURSELF  A  WISE  PHYSICIAN.»-Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 

"I  MYSELF  WILL  BEAR  WITNESS,  IS  PRAISEWORTHY." 

Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 


GEORGE  H.  MALLETT.  M.  D. 


"WERE  BUT  HIS  PICTURE  LEFT  AMONG  YOU  HERE    .     .     .     »— 

1  Henry  VI. 


^^^wrf^t/ 


THE   LIKENESS    OF   DR.    LeROY   M.    BROUN, 

THE   OTHER   MEMBER   OF   THE    COMMITTEE,  WAS 

NOT   OBTAINED. 


rt**3§&>n*<if£&i 


'WE  HAVE  NOTHING  ELSE  TO  ASK  BUT  THAT  WHICH  YOU  DENY."— 

Coriolanus. 
147 


HE'LL  [NOT]  SPEAK  LIKE  AN  ANTHROPOPHAGINIAN  UNTO  THEE." 

Merry  Wives  of  Windsor. 


«*Jg-^*M*Jz"£i*' 


utobtograpbical  IRarrative 


I  SPEAK  NOT  LIKE  A  DOTARD  NOR  A  FOOL,  AS  UNDER  PRIVILEGE  OF 
AGE  TO   BRAG."— Much  Ado  About  Nothing. 

149 


WHAT  HOUR  NOW?— I  THINK  IT  LACKS  OF  TWELVE.— NO,  IT  IS  STRUCK.'' 

Macbeth. 


r*4%3*r*ify*» 


HHSPH 

'Mm 

:     "^?!m1M 

HIS  sketch  was  prepared  by  Dr.  Emmet  to 
be  read  at  the  dinner,  in  whole  or  in  part, 
as  might  seem  appropriate. 

Dr.  Emmet,  however,  was  called  on  at 
so  late   an  hour  that  he  made   but  a  few 
extemporaneous     remarks,     having     little 
reference  to  what  he  had  intended  to  say. 

The  subjects  treated  of  in  the  sketch  have  been  considered 
of  special  interest  in  connection  with  some  of  the  remarks  made 
by  the  different  speakers,  who  were  ignorant  of  what  Dr. 
Emmet  had  prepared. 

After  deciding  to  print  this  narrative,  new  material  which 
entered  more  into  detail  was  added  for  the  purpose  of  eluci- 
dating those  subjects  only  briefly  referred  to  by  the  different 
speakers ;  otherwise  the  manuscript  remained  unchanged. 


r**$§3nrte*3t4r> 


I  AM  BUT  SORRY 


DELAY'D,  BUT  NOTHING  ALTER'D." 

Winter's  Tale. 
151 


THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET,  M.  D. 


"I  WOULD  NOT  BE  AMBITIOUS  IN  MY  WISH,  TO  WISH  MYSELF 
MUCH  BETTER." — Merchant  of  Venice. 


REMINISCENCES  OF  DR.  THOMAS  ADDIS  EMMET. 


EFORE  entering  upon  my  autobiographical 
narrative,  which,  it  has  been  suggested, 
would  be  an  appropriate  and  interesting 
form  of  response  to  your  toast,  I  wish  to 
express  my  fullest  appreciation  of  the  honor 
you  have  done  me.  I  can  say  no  more  to 
give  greater  expression  to  the  depth  of  my 
feelings  than  I  thank  you  all,  and  with  all  my  heart. 

This  occasion  I  feel  may  prove  a  vindication  of  my  work 
as  well  as  the  most  important  event  of  my  life.  I  naturally 
asked  for  the  names  of  those  who  were  the  prime  movers  in 
tendering  me  this  dinner,  and  my  surprise  was  great  to  learn 
that  I  had  not  been  honored  by  my  friends  alone.  There  are 
a  number  among  you  who  I  will  not  say  have  been  inimical, 
but  who  certainly  lacked  appreciation  of  my  methods  and  who 
have  long  held  that  I  was  a  teacher  of  false  doctrine.  Now 
possibly  the  pendulum  has  begun  to  swing  the  other  way,  as  I 
have  hoped  and  prayed  for  years  it  would;  but,  be  this  as  it 
may,  you  are  friendly  nozv  or  you  would  not  be  here,  and  my 
heart  warms  equally  to  one  and  all  of  you.  I  have  long  fin- 
ished my  life's  work,  and  the  desire  now  with  me  is  peace  and 
good  will  to  all.  It  has  been  a  surprise  to  me  with  advancing 
years  how  quickly  have  been  forgotten  the  disagreeable  inci- 
dents which  I  now  realize  must  attend  the  professional  course 

i55 


of  all  men  with  decided  opinions  as  I  have  held,  and  who  stood, 
as  I  have  always,  ready  to  defend  them.  ** 

I  was  born  at  the  University  of  Virginia,  near  Charlottes- 
ville, where  my  father  was  one  of  the  original  professors 
appointed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  fill  the  chair  of  Natural  History 
and  afterwards  of  Chemistry.  An  effort  to  recall  the  incidents 
of  my  early  life  has  nearly  overpowered  me  with  the  vivid 
recollection  of  persons  and  events  which  had  passed  from  my 
mind  for  so  many  years. 

Above  all  stands  out  the  recollection  of  my  father,  Dr. 
John  Patten  Emmet,  a  remarkable  man  both  in  character  and 
attainments.  For  years  previous  to  his  death  he  had  been  my 
constant  companion.  It  is  my  belief  few  fathers  ever  made  a 
more  lasting  impression  upon  the  moral  development  and  after- 
life of  a  son  than  he  made  upon  mine.  From  my  earliest  age 
he  seemed  seldom  to  have  spoken  to  me  without  attempting  to 
teach  me  something  which  I  readily  understood,  and  of  which 
I  seemed  to  have  retained  the  recollection.  He  taught  me  to 
think,  and  to  think  of  the  rights  of  others;  to  be  careful  in 
money  matters ;  to  obey  the  laws  of  God  and  man  from  prin- 
ciple, and  to  realize  to  a  full  degree  my  duty  to  both.  He 
taught  me  to  be  a  close  observer,  and  to  seek  the  causes  of 
things.  Thus  was  laid  the  foundation  of  my  success  in  after 
life  as  a  pioneer  in  the  development  of  the  theory  and  practice 
of  gynecology.  On  one  occasion  he  taught  me  a  very  practical 
lesson.  He  overheard  me  finding  fault,  in  an  arrogant  manner, 
with  the  negro  whose  business  it  was  to  clean  my  shoes.  With 
a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  which  I  well  remember,  and  in  a  kindly 
manner  as  if  conferring  a  privilege,  he  said :  ' '  My  boy,  from 
this  time  forth,  so  long  as  you  are  under  my  roof,  you  shall 
clean  your  own  shoes,  and  this  will  give  you  the  satisfaction  of 
always  being  able  to  have  your  shoes  exactly  in  the  condition 
you  wish."  This  taught  me  to  be  self-reliant,  and  to  this  day 
I  am  reluctant  to  call  upon  any  one  to  do  for  me  what  I  can  do 
for  myself.     I  have  gone  through  life  with  an  increasing  ambi- 

156 


tion  to  be  worthy  of  his  good  name,  and  my  first  thought  has 
been  the  gratification  he  would  have  experienced  in  the  flesh, 
on  every  occasion  where  I  have  attained  success  or  have  been 
the  recipient  of  some  honor. 

My  father,  at  his  death,  left  me,  at  the  age  of  fourteen, 
little  more  than  his  example  and  good  name.  From  that  time 
I  have  had  to  think  for  myself  and  practically  to  have  paid  my 
own  way.  A  relative  advanced  me  the  money  so  long  as  I 
needed  it,  but  all  of  this  I  repaid  with  interest  as  soon  as  pos- 
sible. In  return  for  his  kindness,  it  is  one  of  the  most  gratify- 
ing incidents  of  my  life  to  have  had  the  privilege  and  ability 
years  after  to  lighten  his  burden,  when  a  reverse  of  fortune 
came  upon  him  in  his  old  age. 

After  my  father's  death,  I  entered  the  University  as  a 
student,  but  the  fact  of  my  residence  as  the  son  of  a  professor, 
my  youth,  and  a  very  rapid  physical  development,  militated 
against  any  steady  mental  application.  My  gun,  my  dog,  and 
my  horse,  the  fields  and  the  woods  on  the  neighboring  moun- 
tains, saw  more  of  me  than  my  professors,  until  finally,  falling 
hopelessly  behind  in  my  classes,  it  was  requested  by  the  faculty 
that  I  should  withdraw  from  the  college. 

Dr.  Robley  Dunglison,  of  the  Jefferson  Medical  School, 
Philadelphia,  had  been  appointed  a  professor  in  the  University 
of  Virginia  by  Mr.  Jefferson  at  the  same  time  with  my  father, 
and  they  had  been  warm  personal  friends.  Dr.  Dunglison 
assisted  at  my  birth,  but  had  left  the  University  before  my 
recollection.  I  have  always  possessed  the  faculty  of  being  able 
to  decide  quickly  for  myself  in  any  emergency.  Being  thus 
suddenly  stranded  I  wrote  to  Dr.  Dunglison  as  to  a  stranger, 
telling  him  the  circumstances  and  asking  his  advice  as  to  the 
advisability  of  trying  to  study  medicine.  I  received  a  prompt 
and  generous  response.  The  doctor  fully  understood  my  diffi- 
culty, and  his  advice  was  to  make  no  effort  to  study,  but  to 
attend  the  medical  lectures  regularly  and  try  to  remember 
what   I   could.      The  first  medical  lecture    I    ever   heard   was 

i57 


delivered  by  Dr.  J.  K.  Mitchell,  the  professor  of  the  theory 
and  practice  of  medicine  in  the  Jefferson,  and  from  that  hour 
I  felt  that  my  life's  work  was  laid  out  for  me. 

My  course  of  study  was  an  uneventful  one  with  the  excep- 
tion of  an  attack  of  smallpox  and  one  of  pneumonia,  for  which 
I  was  immediately  bled,  got  a  dose  of  calomel,  and  convalesced 
promptly.  I  led  a  frugal  life,  attended  strictly  to  my  work,  and 
kept  my  living  expenses  and  extravagances  within  three  hun- 
dred dollars  a  year.  At  the  ending  of  four  years,  and  after  the 
delay  of  a  year  to  pass  my  twenty-first  birthday,  I  graduated. 

In  response  to  the  action  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, which  had  been  but  recently  organized,  the  examinations 
for  graduation  in  medicine  were  said  to  have  been  particularly 
strict  in  1849-50.  I  certainly  passed  a  creditable  examination, 
but  without  having  dissected  more  than  the  sartorious  muscle, 
without  having  written  a  prescription,  or  having  attended  an 
obstetrical  case.  I  make  this  statement  in  no  disparagement 
of  the  Jefferson  medical  faculty,  as  with  advancing  experience 
I  have  been  impressed  with  the  fact  that  these  professors 
formed  a  remarkable  body  of  men.  Each  was  a  host  in  himself, 
and  I  doubt  if  their  equal  as  a  whole  were  ever  gotten  together 
in  any  other  medical  school,  at  home  or  abroad.  The  system 
of  teaching  was  defective  in  this  respect  then  as  it  is  to-day, 
and  only  those  who  were  fortunate  enough  to  obtain  hospital 
appointments  just  after  graduation  were  able  to  correct  the 
defect  by  gaining  the  necessary  practical  experience.  Other- 
wise the  greater  part  of  a  lifetime  must  be  spent  in  private 
practice  to  obtain  what  was  necessary  at  the  beginning.  I 
knew  thoroughly  the  theory  of  medicine,  and  by  means  of 
plates  my  knowledge  of  anatomy  was  perfect,  nor  can  I  recall 
having  had  the  slightest  difficulty  in  answering  any  important 
question. 

Among  the  medical  men  and  their  assistants  with  whom  I 
was  brought  in  contact  at  that  time  there  was  a  great  deal  of 
common  sense  and  appreciation  of  the  practical  value  of  what 

158 


should  be  taught,  and  yet  there  was  no  lack  in  estimation  as 
to  the  value  of  detail  and  accurate  knowledge  where  it  was 
applicable.  I  attended  each  year  the  summer  course  in  Phila- 
delphia, which  was  a  repetition  of  the  winter  one  given  in  the 
college.  The  lectures  were  delivered  by  younger  men  who  were 
well  trained,  and  all  of  those  who  lived  became  prominent 
later  in  life.  On  one  occasion  a  Dr.  Wallace,  who  already  had 
a  large  surgical  practice,  was  to  lecture  on  hernia  one  hot  July 
afternoon,  when  it  was  hot  only  as  it  can  be  sometimes  in 
Philadelphia.  The  doctor  weighed  about  three  hundred 
pounds,  and  after  divesting  himself  of  all  the  clothing  he 
could  spare,  came  in  with  the  trunk  of  a  subject  to  make  his 
demonstration.  But  the  heat  was  too  much  for  him,  and, 
mopping  himself  between  each  word,  he  begin:  "When  you 
come  to  operate  for  hernia  you  will  find  little  you  have  been 
taught  to  expect,  and  I  cannot  now  enter  into  a  fuller  explana- 
tion, but  it  is  in  a  nutshell :  cut  until  you  come  to  the  gut,  and 
you  will  be  a  damn  fool  if  you  cut  it;  good  day."  When  the 
weather  got  cooler  the  doctor  did  the  subject  full  justice  in  his 
usual  affable  manner,  but  to  this  hot  day  I  was  indebted  for  an 
important  practical  lesson  being  forcibly  impressed  upon  me. 
Many  times  in  after  life,  when  I  had  lost  my  way  in  the  abdom- 
inal cavity,  where  everything  had  become  matted  together  by 
frequent  attacks  of  peritonitis,  and  where  often  in  the  tissues 
there  seemed  but  the  thickness  and  consistency  of  damp  tissue 
paper  as  the  only  barrier  to  some  accident  which  might  cause 
the  death  of  the  patient,  I  have  felt  a  wave  of  demoralization 
pass  through  me  down  to  my  knees.  I  would  suddenly  think 
of  the  lecture  on  hernia,  with  the  full  details  which  I  have  not 
given,  and  with  a  smile  not  in  keeping  with  the  situation,  I 
have  had  my  faculties  sharpened  so  that  with  care  and  time 
I  have  soon-  worked  out  into  a  clearing,  with  no  further 
difficulty  before  me. 

I  do  not  cite  this  incident  of  the  lecture  on  hernia  as  a 
reflection  upon  Dr.   Wallace,   but  in  appreciation  of  the  terse 

J59 


and  practical  lesson  the  doctor  wished  to  convey.  Notwith- 
standing the  accidental  inelegant  mode  of  expression,  $t  im- 
pressed every  one  who  heard  his  few  words  with  the  necessity 
of  self-reliance  under  every  circumstance,  and,  above  all,  that 
the  difficulties  of  the  operation  were  exaggerated  by  the  usual 
mode  of  teaching.  Dr.  Wallace  had  already  gained  a  reputa- 
tion as  a  careful  and  successful  surgeon  before  his  death. 

On  the  day  of  graduation,  after  a  long  ceremony,  I  received 
my  diploma  and  reached  my  lodgings  late  for  dinner,  but 
before  I  had  finished  I  was  summoned  by  a  communication  from 
the  dean  of  the  faculty  to  call  upon  him  without  delay.  My 
first  thought  was  that  some  mistake  had  been  made  about  my 
diploma,  and  I  answered  the  summons  with  a  heavy  heart. 
I  was  informed  that  through  an  agent  of  the  Chilian  govern- 
ment the  faculty  had  been  requested  to  select  from  the  gradu- 
ating class  some  one  fitted  to  take  charge,  as  surgeon,  of  an 
expedition,  and  that  I  had  received  the  appointment.  The 
expedition  was  about  to  sail  from  New  York  under  St.  George 
Campbell,  the  engineer,  who  was  to  build  the  first  railroad  in 
Chili,  for  Meiggs,  who  afterwards  became  known  as  the  railroad 
king.  I  was  to  receive  three  thousand  dollars  a  year  in  gold 
and  all  my  living  and  traveling  expenses  paid  upon  binding 
myself  to  remain  until  the  completion  of  the  road.  This 
seemed  a  fabulous  sum  to  one  in  my  circumstances,  and  in 
relative  value  would  be  about  equal  to  twelve  thousand  dollars 
at  the  present  time.  Without  delay  I  called  on  the  merchant 
in  New  York  who  had  the  fitting  out  of  the  expedition  and  was 
very  cordially  received  as  a  person  of  some  importance.  I  was 
explicitly  informed  by  him  that  no  expense  should  be  spared  in 
fitting  out  my  department,  or  in  consulting  any  one  as  an  expert 
who  could  aid  me.  I  learned  that  about  eight  hundred  men, 
women  and  children  were  going,  and  as  we  would  likely  be 
about  three  years  up  among  the  Andes  Mountains,  unable  to 
supply  any  deficiency,  it  was  necessary  that  no  mistake  of 
omission  should  be  made  in  supplying  everything  which  would 

160 


be  necessary  in  addition  to  medicines  and  surgical  outfit.  To 
make  a  beginning  I  was  requested  then  and  there  to  write  out 
a  requisition  for  medicines,  to  which  I  could  make  additions 
afterwards.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  writing  out  the  names  of  a 
number  of  medicines,  but  soon  I  began  to  perspire  freely  on 
realizing  for  the  first  time  the  responsibility  I  was  about  to 
assume.  After  chewing  for  a  short  time  upon  the  end  of  my 
quill  pen,  to  aid  my  thoughts  as  to  what  I  should  do,  I  took  up 
my  hat,  went  out  to  the  merchant,  and  told  him  I  could  not 
conscientiously  accept  the  position.  He  looked  at  me  as  if  he 
thought  I  was  a  fool,  and  I  passed  out  without  comment. 
I  afterwards  learned  that  a  young  graduate,  who  probably  had 
not  had  my  advantages,  accepted  the  position ;  but  I  was  never 
able  to  ascertain  how  he  "  made  out." 

I  never  had  my  sense  of  duty  so  severely  taxed  as  on  this 
occasion,  where  I  had  to  put  aside  so  completely  every  con- 
sideration of  self  interest,  and  it  seemed  at  the  time  as  if  my 
decision  was  the  wiping  out  of  all  future  prospects. 

Within  a  short  distance  of  the  counting  house  I  met  Dr. 
Macneven,  the  only  person  I  knew  in  the  city  outside  of  my 
family  circle.  He  asked  me  what  I  was  doing  in  New  York,  and 
I  asked  him  what  he  was  doing  downtown  at  that  hour.  It  was 
just  after  the  frightful  famine  in  Ireland  when  several  hundred 
thousand  immigrants  had  landed  during  the  year  in  New  York, 
and  were  dying  in  the  streets  of  typhus,  or  ship  fever,  as  it  was 
called.  Commissioners  of  Emigration  were  appointed,  and 
they  were  erecting  temporary  buildings  on  Ward's  Island  for 
hospital  purposes.  A  medical  board  of  fifteen  visiting  physi- 
cians had  been  appointed,  and  Dr.  Macneven  was  one  of  the 
number.  He  was  on  his  way  to  the  place  of  meeting  to 
examine  applicants  for  the  position  of  resident  physician,  and 
I  accompanied  him.  I  was  the  first  victim,  and  after  an 
examination  of  four  hours,  during  which  each  member  of  the 
board  took  a  turn,  I  was  judged  competent  and  reported  for 
duty  on  the  following  day.      I  had  never  seen  a  case  of  ship 

161 


fever,  yet  a  building  containing  one  hundred  male  cases  was 
assigned  to  me,  together  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  bfeds  in 
addition  for  sick  children  and  women,  all  of  whom  I  had  to 
visit  regularly  twice  a  day  and  as  often  as  necessary  to  see  any 
special  case.  I  was  also  instructed  to  "go  through"  once  a  day 
a  ward  near  my  quarters  containing  about  one  hundred  aged 
women.  I  was  somewhat  staggered  at  the  responsibility  put 
upon  me,  but  I  accepted  the  situation  with  a  light  heart  as  the 
only  means  by  which  I  could  gain  experience  in  the  practice  of 
my  profession. 

At  an  early  hour  next  morning  I  began  my  work  with  the 
old  women,  feeling  fully  satisfied  that  I  would  accomplish  what 
was  expected  of  me  if  it  could  be  done  by  my  own  efforts. 
I  supposed  all  occupying  beds  in  a  hospital  ward  were  sick, 
but  when  I  was  through,  taking  each  woman  in  rotation,  I  had 
not  a  very  clear  idea  of  my  morning's  work,  beyond  having 
apparently  cheered  up  greatly  the  spirits  of  the  old  women  by 
my  attentions.  In  my  effort  to  do  justice  to  the  complaints  of 
each  and  to  use  to  their  advantage  the  account  of  family  or 
traditional  ailments,  which  were  communicated  by  each  in  con- 
fidence, I  had  written  pages  of  prescriptions,  having  attempted 
to  treat  symptoms,  singly  and  in  groups. 

I  was  seen  coming  out  of  the  building,  weary  and  in  want 
of  food,  and  was  accosted  by  one  of  the  staff  with  the  salutation : 
"In  the  name  of  Heaven,  doctor,  what  have  you  been  doing  in 
there  all  day  with  those  old  women  ?  Don't  you  know  that  is 
part  of  the  Refuge  and  all  they  need  is  a  little  tea  and 
tobacco  ?  " 

Fortunately  for  the  sick  in  my  service  that  day  when  I  was 
wanted  and  could  not  be  found,  another  physician  had  been 
assigned  to  them  and  I  was  assisted  each  day  thereafter.  But 
further  comment  is  unnecessary,  in  addition  to  what  I  have 
already  expressed  on  our  faulty  method  of  teaching  practice. 
At  the  end  of  some  ten  days  I  developed  an  attack  of  ship  fever 
and  escaped  death  by  a  very  narrow  margin,  but  I  was  back 

162 


again  at  work  within  a  month  after  the  fever  left  me,  although 
a  leave  of  absence  was  generally  granted  for  three  months  to 
recuperate.  Contrary  to  rule,  I  had  a  second  attack  thirteen 
months  later,  which  was  so  virulent  in  character  that  to  save 
my  life  it  was  necessary  to  move  me  from  the  hospital 
atmosphere,  with  my  nurses,  to  the  house  of  an  uncle  in  the 
city,  which  he  and  his  family  vacated  on  a  few  hours'  notice, 
and  it  took  me  two  months  to  regain  my  strength  sufficiently 
to  resume  my  work. 

I  served  as  a  resident  physician  for  three  years,  having  had 
in  that  time  under  my  charge  about  eleven  thousand  miscella- 
neous cases,  including  all  the  eruptive  fevers  among  adults  and 
children,  with  over  nineteen  hundred  cases  of  adult  males  suf- 
fering from  ship  fever.  I  got  also  some  surgical  experience 
and  served  my  time  in  the  obstetrical  department,  where  from 
five  to  ten  women  a  day  were  delivered.  The  interne  was  in 
full  charge  of  the  practice  for  about  twenty-two  hours  out  of 
each  day,  and  whenever  the  visiting  physician  was  not  on  duty. 
I  frequently  volunteered  in  the  pharmacy,  and  after  my  regular 
work  was  finished  I  served  many  hours  at  night  in  helping  put 
up  prescriptions.  This  experience  was  of  great  advantage 
when  I  began  private  practice,  as  a  large  number  of  physicians 
then  still  furnished  their  office  patients  with  medicines,  and  I 
continued  the  custom  for  a  number  of  years.  A  revival  of  the 
custom  would  be  an  offset  to  the  prescribing  druggists,  and, 
from  a  pecuniary  point,  be  of  great  advantage  to  the  profession 
by  stopping  the  repeating  by  druggists  of  old  prescriptions  for 
former  patients  and  for  all  their  friends  on  one  office  fee.  In 
addition,  as  part  of  my  volunteer  work,  I  made  fully  one  thou- 
sand post-mortem  examinations.  I  thus  familiarized  myself 
with  every  pathological  condition,  with  the  exception  of  true 
yellow  fever,  of  which  I  saw  very  few  cases,  but  we  had  a 
number  known  as  Chagres  fever.  At  that  time  the  Panama 
Railroad  was  being  built,  and  at  the  beginning  it  was  part  of 
the  duty  of  our  staff  to  select  with  the  greatest  care  the  laborers, 

16^ 


who  were  nearly  all  young  Irishmen,  and  a  finer  set  of  men 
were  never  selected  for  any  service.  Making  allowances^for  all 
exaggeration,  the  mortality  was  frightful,  and  few  returned  but 
those  who  were  brought  back  *sick  to  Ward's  Island.  It  was 
said  at  the  time  that  with  an  allowance  of  eighteen  inches  for 
each  body,  laid  side  by  side,  the  railroad  track  could  have  been 
covered  with  the  dead  from  ocean  to  ocean. 

During  my  service  in  the  hospital  I  took  no  holiday,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  about  three  months  and  a  half,  while  I 
was  sick  with  ship  fever,  I  was  on  continuous  duty  for  three 
years  in  a  service  from  which  a  number  died  and  many  were 
obliged  to  resign  in  consequence  of  imperfect  health.  Yet  I 
had  a  great  deal  of  recreation,  pleasure,  and  time  for  reading. 
During  my  first  winter  I  built  after  my  own  design  a  sailboat 
about  nineteen  feet  long,  beginning  with  the  centerboard  box 
and  building  out  from  that  to  the  stern  and  bow.  I  was  said 
to  have  disregarded  all  rules  applicable  to  boat  building,  and 
yet  I  turned  out  a  so-called  nondescript  which  I  used  for  two 
years.  She  was  so  active  in  her  movements  that  I  christened 
her  "Senna  and  Salts,"  a  combination  probably  known  to  few 
of  you  in  practice  to-day,  but  one  which  was  speedy  in  move- 
ment and  decided  in  action.  I  should  state  that  I  have  a  nat- 
ural turn  for  mechanics,  and  at  one  time  I  possessed  a  collection 
of  tools  selected  from  almost  every  trade.  I  could  carve  in 
wood,  and  there  was  scarcely  anything  I  wanted  in  wood  or  iron 
which  I  could  not  reproduce  by  some  method  of  my  own  unless 
the  skill  of  an  expert  was  needed.  I  will  have  to  refer  again  to 
how  much  a  knowledge  of  mechanics  aided  me  in  the  develop- 
ment of  my  work  in  plastic  surgery. 

About  two  weeks  before  the  expiration  of  my  service  as 
one  of  the  resident  physicians,  my  visiting  physician  resigned. 
To  my  astonishment  and  satisfaction  I  received  in  a  few  days 
an  official  communication  from  the  Board  of  Commissioners  of 
Emigration  notifying  me  I  had  been  appointed  a  member  of 
the  Visiting  Board  of  Physicians,  and  I  was  informed  that  the 

164 


election  had  rested  on  my  record  of  service.  I  was  twenty 
years  the  junior  of  Dr.  J.  M.  Carnochan,  who  had  been  the 
youngest  member  of  the  board,  and  at  the  first  meeting  I 
became  the  secretary.  My  salary  as  visiting  physician  was 
four  dollars  a  day,  on  which  I  soon  married.  With  the  pros- 
pect of  building  up  a  practice  I  was  fully  contented,  when  I 
was  so  fortunate  as  to  receive  twenty-five  cents  cash  for  a  visit 
among  the  tenement  houses,  then  situated  along  the  East  River 
below  Fourteenth  Street.  I  received  about  fifty  dollars  for 
my  first  year's  work  in  private  practice,  but  after  that  time  I 
advanced  rapidly. 

Some  six  months  after  my  appointment,  and  during  the 
winter  of  1853,  I  nearly  lost  my  life  in  the  discharge  of  my  duty. 
There  was  a  blizzard,  with  a  fall  of  snow  I  have  never  seen 
equaled,  and  for  two  days  there  was  scarcely  an  attempt  made 
to  travel  on  foot  or  by  vehicle.  I  lived  in  Fourth  Avenue  near 
Twelfth  Street,  and  in  front  of  my  door  was  the  Harlem  & 
New  Haven  Railroad,  which  had  its  depot  then  near  the  corner 
of  Canal  Street  and  in  Broadway.  Early  in  the  morning  of 
the  third  day  a  car  passed  with  a  steam  snowplow  to  open  the 
way.  I  decided  it  was  my  duty,  as  the  youngest  man  of  the 
Medical  Board,  to  make  an  attempt  to  reach  the  hospital  on 
Ward's  Island,  where  I  knew  no  visiting  physician  had  been 
able  to  report  for  service  for  four  days.  I  was  two  hours  on 
this  train  reaching  One  Hundred  and  Tenth  Street,  and  where 
the  railroad  crossed  the  Harlem  flats  there  was  an  open  waste 
covered  with  snow  three  or  four  feet  deep,  and  frequently  I 
found  it  in  drifts  over  my  head.  It  was  several  hours  before  I 
was  able  to  reach  the  ferry  house  on  the  Harlem  River,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  thermometer  was  at  zero,  I  was  in  a  pro- 
fuse perspiration,  in  consequence  of  the  great  exertion  I  had 
made.  The  river  had  been  frozen  over,  as  well  as  the  greater 
part  of  Hell  Gate,  but  it  was  flood  tide,  and  when  I  reached 
there  the  river  was  filled  with  large  cakes  of  ice  piling  up  on 
each  other  from  the  force  of  the  current.     I  could  induce  no 

165 


one  among-  the  ferrymen  to  accompany  me  in  my  effort  to  cross 
the  river ;  but  this  did  not  discourage  me,  as  I  was  strong,  self- 
reliant,  and  foolhardy.  I  took  a  light  flat-bottom  skiff  with 
each  oar  secured  in  a  grummet,  crossed  the  river  by  dragging 
the  boat  from  one  piece  of  ice  to  another,  and  several  times  fell 
in,  getting  wet  above  the  waist.  I  finally  succeeded  in  landing 
on  the  island  with  my  clothing  frozen  on  me  and  in  quite  an 
exhausted  condition.  I  got  a  drink  of  brandy  and  visited  my 
own  patients,  together  with  a  number  in  the  other  services, 
wherever  my  advice  was  needed.  I  recrossed  the  river  in  the 
same  manner,  but  with  less  exertion,  as  there  were  a  number 
of  open  spaces  where  I  was  able  to  row.  It  was  just  growing 
dark  when  I  reached  the  little  railroad  station  on  the  viaduct, 
which  I  found  empty,  without  a  fire,  and  with  the  prospect  of 
freezing  to  death  before  morning  if  no  train  passed.  I  should 
have  remained  at  the  hospital,  but  it  was  before  the  days  of 
local  telegraph  or  telephone,  and  I  was  unwilling  to  subject  my 
family  to  so  many  additional  hours  of  uncertainty.  A  train 
came  up  fortunately  soon  after  and  stopped  on  my  signal, 
so  that  I  reached  home  after  twelve  hours'  exposure,  with 
my  strength  greatly  overtaxed  and  weak  from  fasting  all 
day,  as  I  had  neither  time  nor  thought  at  the  hospital  to  take 
any  food. 

I  have  detailed  these  circumstances,  as  my  experience  was 
an  interesting  one  from  a  medical  standpoint.  To  my  surprise 
I  took  no  cold  and  next  day  suffered  only  from  fatigue,  but  after 
some  days  I  developed  rheumatic  fever  and  lay  for  six  weeks 
on  cotton,  during  which  time  I  believe  not  a  joint  in  my  body, 
except  in  my  spine,  escaped  the  inflammatory  action.  After  I 
began  to  sit  up  I  suffered  for  a  few  days  from  sudden  attacks 
of  palpitation  and  from  syncope.  Later  on  I  twice  dropped 
out  of  my  chair  unconscious  for  a  moment  in  consequence  of  a 
draft  of  cold  air  caused  by  a  window  being  opened  suddenly 
behind  me.  But  I  convalesced  rapidly,  and  from  that  time  I 
have  never  been  conscious  of  any  heart  disturbance  beyond  an 

166 


occasional  intermitting-  pulse  not  due  to  organic  disease.  I  can 
at  my  age  ascend  a  stairway,  so  far  as  my  broken  leg  will  allow 
me,  with  as  little  disturbance  of  my  respiration  as  at  any  time 
in  my  life. 

My  last  service  as  visiting  physician  at  the  Emigrant 
Refuge  Hospital  was  rendered  in  the  early  summer  of  1854. 
The  physician  who  had  been  on  duty  for  the  shortest  time  took 
charge,  according  to  rule,  of  any  emergency  ward  which  had  to 
be  opened,  and  did  so  in  addition  to  his  regular  work.  I  thus 
became  responsible  for  a  cholera  ward  where,  during  my  six 
weeks'  service,  eight  hundred  cholera  cases  were  admitted, 
generally  in  a  state  of  collapse,  as  the  greater  portion  were 
picked  up  in  the  slums  of  the  city.  I  had  a  number  of  assist- 
ants, but  the  responsibility  of  my  position  was  a  fearful  one. 
I  spent  about  four  hours  a  day  going  from  one  bed  to  another, 
aiding  the  attending  physician,  and  was  present  at  nearly  all 
the  post-mortem  examinations.  On  two  occasions,  when  a 
larger  number  of  bad  cases  than  usual  had  been  admitted,  I 
found  next  morning  all  the  patients  and  the  nurses  had  died 
since  my  last  visit.  Yet  very  few  cases  died  in  the  hospital 
proper  among  the  nurses  or  patients  where  they  received 
proper  and  prompt  treatment  at  the  beginning.  The  nurses 
employed  in  the  cholera  wards  were  well  paid  for  extra  work, 
so  that  they  were  overworked,  and  they  relied  too  much  on 
stimulants  to  keep  up  their  strength.  Many  priests  died,  and 
I  believe  no  record  was  kept  of  the  number  who  lost  their 
lives  at  Ward's  Island.  My  strength  was  greatly  taxed,  and  I 
became  so  saturated  with  the  poison  that  I  was  seldom  free 
from  some  of  the  premonitory  symptoms,  but  these  were 
readily  kept  in  check.  My  rest  was  greatly  disturbed,  as  I 
would  be  often  seized  in  my  sleep  with  cramps  in  my  fingers, 
toes,  and  in  the  calves  of  my  legs.  The  physician  who  relieved 
me  was  very  apprehensive  for  his  safety  and  died  in  a  week. 
He  was  the  only  physician  who  lost  his  life  in  this  service. 
That  I  did  not  die  during  my  service  in  the  Emigrant  Refuge 

167 


Hospital  made  me  think  afterwards  that  God  probably  pre- 
served my  life  for  some  other  work.  «* 

After  I  became  associated  with  the  Woman's  Hospital  I 
gradually  realized  that  the  chief  work  of  my  life  was  to  be 
done  there.  What  was  required  of  me  became  evident.  With 
a  new  field  of  study  before  me,  and  with  a  mass  of  material  at 
my  disposal  greater  than  any  one  else  had  ever  controlled,  it 
was  made  evident  that  my  mission  was  to  teach. 

It  would  be  but  repetition  should  I  attempt  to  give  here 
any  detail  of  my  experience  connected  with  that  service.  I 
have  already  done  this  in  an  address  by  me  on  ' '  Reminiscences 
of  the  Founders  of  the  Woman's  Hospital  Association,"  pub- 
lished in  the  "New  York  Journal  of  Gynecology,"  May,  1893; 
and  afterwards  with  some  additions  reprinted  in  the  "American 
Gynecological  and  Obstetrical  Journal,"  April,  1899.  To  a 
greater  extent  I  have  treated  of  the  subject  in  a  paper, 
' '  Personal  Reminiscences  Associated  with  the  Progress  of 
Gynecology,"  read  before  the  American  Gynecological  Society 
at  the  meeting  in  May,  1900,  and  published  in  the  transactions 
of  the  society  for  that  year,  and  which  was  also  printed  in 
the  "American  Gynecological  and  Obstetrical  Journal"  for 
May,  1900. 

In  these  papers  I  have  also  attempted  to  express  my  great 
obligation  to  my  old  friend  Dr.  J.  Marion  Sims,  with  whom, 
during  our  joint  service  of  five  years  and  a  half  at  the  Woman's 
Hospital,  my  relations  were  as  close  as  that  of  a  son.  If  he  had 
not  given  us  his  speculum,  which  opened  the  way  for  investi- 
gation, a  knowledge  of  the  use  of  silver  wire,  and  his  perfect 
technic,  I  would  never  have  been  known  to  the  world  in  con- 
nection with  gynecology.  Beyond  the  stated  limit  as  to  time, 
our  work,  however,  lay  on  different  lines  and  was  viewed  from 
different  standpoints  without  the  slightest  connection  one  with 
the  other. 

It  is  now  necessary  for  me  again  to  refer  to  my  experience 
at  the  University  of  Virginia  to  make  clearer  some  of  the 

168 


difficulties  which  I  managed  to  overcome  to  some  extent  in 
after  life,  and  to  show  that  even  my  limited  tuition  there 
proved  of  the  greatest  benefit.  Mathematics  was  the  especial 
stumbling-block  in  my  course  at  the  University,  and  yet  I  can 
now  realize  what  advantage  I  would  have  gained  from  the  aid 
of  a  tutor  as  is  furnished  to-day  at  our  universities.  I  certainly 
am  not  totally  deficient  in  the  mathematical  instinct ;  although 
I  have  never  learned  the  multiplication  table,  at  least  not 
having  acquired  it  in  early  life,  I  have  made  no  effort  to 
accomplish  it  in  later  years,  as  by  some  mental  process  of  my 
own  I  am  able  to  get  at  what  I  need.  After  I  had  been  some 
years  in  practice  and  a  married  man  with  children,  I  managed 
to  find  time  to  go  over  a  college  course  with  private  teachers. 
Mathematics  did  not  interest  me  as  a  whole,  but  I  found  the 
study  of  geometry  very  fascinating.  That  I  learned  to  cipher 
is  shown  by  the  series  of  statistical  tables  which  I  prepared  for 
my  work  on  "The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Gynecology,"  on 
which  special  work  I  spent  nearly  two  years  and  made  every 
calculation  myself.  These  details  go  to  show,  I  think,  that 
defective  teaching  at  the  beginning  is  generally  the  cause  of 
failure  even  with  the  most  stupid  child. 

The  course  of  lectures  on  Natural  Philosophy,  as  delivered 
by  Prof.  William  B.  Rogers,  was  the  only  one  which  interested 
me.  Consequently  this  line  of  study  occupied  much  of  my 
attention  when  years  after  I  went  over  the  college  course. 
I  thus  learned  to  test  every  operation  in  plastic  surgery  by 
some  principle  of  mechanics  and  was  frequently  able  to  judge 
of  the  value  of  any  procedure  devised  by  myself  or  another, 
without  having  actually  to  perform  the  operation.  In  my 
experience  no  plastic  operation  has  ever  been  perfected  to  be 
of  any  practical  value  until  it  could  stand  a  mechanical  test. 
I  will  state,  in  addition,  my  conviction  that  no  one  in  plastic 
surgery  has  ever  been  a  successful  operator,  nor  able  to  repeat 
to  advantage  the  successful  work  of  others,  without  possessing 
a  mechanical  instinct.     This  statement  will  doubtless  be  criti- 

169 


cised,  but  by  no  one  able  to  recognize  the  difference  after 
a  surgical  procedure  between  a  successful  result  «ind  a 
failure. 

I  received  my  first  professional  recognition  by  being  made 
a  member  of  the  Berlin  Obstetrical  Society,  after  publishing 
my  work  on  ' '  Vesico-vaginal  Fistula  from  Parturition  and 
Other  Causes,"  in  1868,  and  shortly  after  I  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  Medical  Society  of  Norway. 

My  work  on  "  The  Principles  and  Practice  of  Gynecology  " 
was  published  in  1879  and  went  through  three  editions  in  this 
country  within  fifteen  months.  All  three  editions  were  repro- 
duced in  London  and  translations  into  German  and  French 
were  printed  in  Leipzig  and  in  Paris.  I  have  been  informed 
that  one  was  also  made  into  Spanish,  but  the  manuscript  was 
lost  by  some  accident.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  value  of 
the  work,  it  was  essentially  original  from  cover  to  cover  and  it 
embodied  the  experience  of  the  best  part  of  my  professional 
life.  It  was  published,  unfortunately,  just  before  the  full 
development  or  adoption  of  the  aseptic  treatment  as  applied  to 
abdominal  surgery.  In  this  respect  the  work  was  considered 
by  some  not  full  enough  in  detail,  and  yet  I  am  still  of  the 
opinion  that  I  taught  the  essentials.  Others  judged  me  not  to 
be  sufficiently  advanced  in  my  teaching,  as  I  did  not  fully 
indorse  all  the  surgical  procedures  of  the  period,  but  time  has 
certainly  sustained  my  judgment.  A  fourth  edition  of  this 
work  was  never  called  for,  and  fortunately,  as  I  might  have 
laid  myself  open  to  the  charge  of  plagiarism.  For  everything 
I  taught  of  special  importance  has  gradually  become  absorbed 
into  the  practice  of  the  profession  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years,  and  incorporated  into  every  new  book  as  common  prop- 
erty, so  that  the  origin  of  much  has  been  lost. 

I  sometimes  greatly  enjoy  a  joke  in  a  quiet  way.  It  has 
not  been  more  than  six  months  since  a  physician  from  the 
West  visited  New  York  "to  perfect  himself,"  as  he  expressed 
it,  and  who,  happening  to  hear  of  me  somewhere,  called  to  see 

170 


me  as  one  of  the  sights.  As  we  had  nothing  in  common,  I 
turned  the  conversation  on  his  practice.  He  was,  of  course,  a 
specialist  in  gynecology,  and  for  half  an  hour  entertained  me 
with  an  account  of  the  advantage  to  be  derived  from  hot-water 
vaginal  douches,  dwelling  on  the  importance  of  the  dorsal 
position.  I  showed  so  much  interest  that  he  left  with  a  grati- 
fied expression  in  consequence  of  having  taught  a  New  York 
doctor  something  new. 

For  writing  "The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Gynecology"  I 
received  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  the  Jefferson 
University,  the  trustees  of  the  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia,  being  the  Governing  Board.  The  Academical 
Department  of  this  University,  situated  in  Pennsylvania,  has 
been  in  active  operation  for  over  a  hundred  years.  This 
institution  has  conferred  this  degree,  I  have  been  informed, 
but  five  times,  and  I  believe  only  on  graduates  from  the  medical 
department.  This  honor  I  share  with  Dr.  Marion  Sims,  who 
graduated  in  1836. 

In  1898  I  issued  "The  Emmet  Family,  With  Some  Inci- 
dents Relating  to  Irish  History,  Etc."  The  work  also  contained 
an  extended  memoir  of  my  father.  For  writing  this  book  I 
had  the  honor  of  receiving  the  Laetare  medal  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Notre  Dame,  Indiana.  In  1903  I  published  an 
extended  work,  "  Ireland  Under  English  Rule,  Etc.,"  a  labor  of 
years  and  on  the  merits  of  which  the  public  has  yet  to  render  a 
verdict.  I  have  written  a  number  of  articles  on  professional 
subjects  which  have  been  published  in  the  medical  journals  at 
home  and  abroad,  and  with  which  most  of  you  are  familiar.  I 
have  written  various  papers  and  addresses  relating  to  American 
and  Irish  historical  subjects,  of  which  I  have  no  record. 

It  seems  fitting  on  this  occasion,  probably  the  last  with 
which  I  shall  have  any  professional  relation,  that  I  should 
bring  into  more  prominence  certain  points  which  I  have 
omitted  in  the  past  from  a  feeling  of  delicacy,  or  the  advisa- 
bility of  referring  to  which  has  since  become  more  evident, 

171 


I  can  claim  that  my  earliest  important  contribution  to 
surgery  was  in  teaching  the  great  necessity  for  cleaniiness, 
with  regard  to  both  patient  and  instruments,  and  this  I  taught  to 
a  degree  for  which  none  of  my  professional  friends  appreciated 
the  need.  With  the  aid  of  dear  old  Margaret  Brennan,  the 
nurse,  I  gained  results  in  plastic  surgery,  thirty-five  years  ago, 
which  in  later  years  I  found  impossible  with  any  trained  nurse. 
She  could  give  a  glow  of  immaculate  cleanliness  to  a  vagina,  in 
preparation  for  an  operation,  I  have  never  seen  equaled.  She 
served  God  every  moment  of  her  life  in  her  vocation  as  a 
nurse.  All  present  who  have  ever  served  in  the  Woman's 
Hospital  can  recall  her  placid  face,  as  she  stood  hour  after  hour 
holding  the  speculum  immovable.  I  have  sometimes  seen  a 
slight  movement  of  her  lips  and  I  have  said  to  her,  in  an 
undertone,  "Margaret,  who  are  you  praying  for  now?"  Her 
answer  was:  "For  you  and  everybody,"  which  was  literally 
true,  as  her  whole  thought  was  for  everybody  but  herself. 
For  faithful  and  untiring  service,  skillful  nursing,  close 
observation  and  observance  of  detail,  the  world  owes  Margaret 
Brennan  an  unrecognized  debt  of  gratitude,  to  an  extent  which 
can  never  be  appreciated,  for  all  she  contributed  toward  the 
development  of  gynecology. 

My  work  on  Gynecology  gives  full  evidence  of  many 
remarkable  results  obtained  in  abdominal  surgery  with  her 
assistance,  and  at  a  time  when  we  had  nothing  but  the  skillful 
use  of  ordinary  turpentine  soap  and  hot  water  for  preparing 
the  patient,  or  the  instruments.  Those  of  you  who  are  familiar 
with  my  early  teaching  at  the  Woman's  Hospital  have  heard 
me  reiterate  in  my  clinics  as  an  aphorism:  "The  death 
warrant  of  many  a  patient  is  carried  under  the  finger  nails  of 
the  operator."  Before  I  ever  heard  of  the  existence  of  Lister, 
I  taught  this,  and  yet  no  man  has  ever  appreciated  more  than 
I  have  the  value  of  the  former's  work  in  educating  the  world 
as  to  the  importance  of  asepsis.  When  the  first  Woman's 
Hospital  building,  at  Forty-ninth  Street  and  Park  Avenue,  New 

172 


York,  was  opened  under  my  charge,  in  1868,  as  surgeon-in- 
chief,  I  had  a  steam  or  Russian  bath  in  operation  for  the 
purpose  of  cleansing  and  where  every  case  was  prepared  by 
several  baths  for  a  laparotomy  and  with  the  free  use  of 
turpentine  soap.  In  i87r,  when  a  medical  board  was  formed 
to  take  charge  of  the  service,  none  of  my  colleagues  appreciated 
the  necessity  for  any  such  preparation,  and  all  voted  against  me 
when  it  was  decided  to  tear  out  this  bath  to  make  a  reception 
room  for  the  patients  of  the  outdoor  clinic. 

Much  good  was  accomplished  by  demonstrating  the  exist- 
ence of  lacerated  cervix  and  the  close  relation  of  the  injury  to 
epithelioma,  if  it  be  not  the  actual  cause.      The  operation  for 
repair  filled  an  important  place,  but  a  still  greater  advance  was 
made  on  showing  the  greater  necessity  for  amputation,  when  it 
was  discovered  by  me  that  in  many  cases  the  character  of  the 
lesion  had  become  changed  owing  to  the  use  of  aseptic  mid- 
wifery.    Yet,   it   is   difficult   to    determine  if  the  good  which 
has  been  obtained  under  all  favorable  circumstances  counter- 
balances the  evil  from  the  great  abuse  which  has  existed  from 
operating  unnecessarily,  as  well  as  from  neglect  on  the  other 
hand  where  an  operative  procedure  should  have  been  employed 
The  discovery  of  this  injury  and  operation  gave  me  a  world- 
wide reputation,  and  yet  I  have  never  been  satisfied      From 
some  unexplainable   cause   the   profession   at   large   has  never 
mastered  the  subject  in  detail  sufficiently  to  enable  the  good 
derived  to  compensate  for  the  amount  of  injury  resulting  from 
ignorance  or  want  of  dexterity. 

My  success  from  operating  to  cure  the  injury,  and  finally 
from  having  been  the  means  of  preventing  the  occurrence  of 
vesicovaginal  fistula,  has  given  me  far  more  gratification  than 
I  have  ever  had  in  connection  with  laceration  of  the  cervix 
and  yet  the  extent  of  my  work  in  relation  to  the  former  is 
comparatively  but  little  known. 

Dr.   Sims  made  it  possible  by  his  teaching  to  close  every 
fistula  of  any  extent  by  means  of  silver  wire  wherever  it  was 


r73 


possible  to  bring  the  edges  together  free  from  tension.  I 
developed  the  plastic  methods  by  which  nearly  every  c^se  of 
greater  injury  could  be  cured  in  time,  as  I  demonstrated  in  my 
book  on  this  injury,  published  in  1868.  Dr.  Sims,  after  going 
abroad  at  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War,  never  had  the  oppor- 
tunity to  advance  beyond  the  work  which  he  described  in  his 
remarkable  paper  read  before  the  New  York  Academy  of 
Medicine  previous  to  his  departure.  I  gained  good  results 
where  others  had  failed;  or,  in  other  words,  I  cured  the 
supposed  incurable  cases  sent  me,  but  found  it  difficult  to 
transmit  my  methods.  This  would  have  been  a  lamentable 
result  but  for  the  fortunate  circumstance  that  I  was  able 
to  demonstrate  the  cause  of  fistula,  and  by  the  removal 
of  this  cause  the  injury  has  become  of  rare  occurrence,  or 
simple  in  character.  I  read  a  paper  at  the  meeting  of  the 
American  Gynecological  Society,  in  1878,  at  Philadelphia, 
and  published  in  the  transactions  for  that  year,  by  which 
I  showed  the  lesion  was  always  the  result  of  delay  in  delivery 
and  not  from  "meddlesome  midwifery,"  as  was  then  the 
accepted  belief;  and  I  showed  that  where  ergot  had  been 
used,  which  was  the  common  practice,  the  injury  was  much 
greater.  I  then  promulgated  the  important  point  that  an 
attendant  would  be  most  culpable  of  neglect  if  delivery  were 
not  accomplished  without  delay  in  every  case  when  the  head 
ceased  to  recede  after  a  pain.  Unless  impaction  has  taken 
place  the  head  will  recede  after  every  pain  except  just  at  the 
moment  after  it  has  passed  from  the  uterus,  but  it  is  then  so 
high  that  no  injury  could  result  in  a  normal  pelvis.  This  paper 
revolutionized  the  then  accepted  obstetrical  practice  throughout 
the  world,  and  ergot  itself  has  ceased  to  be  used.  Fifty  years 
or  more  ago  this  frightful  injury  was  so  common  that  the 
Woman's  Hospital  was  established  for  its  cure,  and  to-day  it 
may  be  said  that  it  should  never  occur,  unless  such  a  degree  of 
deformity  exists  that  delivery  cannot  be  accomplished,  or  an 
abdominal  section  is  impossible. 

i74 


I  introduced  the  use  of  scissors  into  the  surgical  work  of 
gynecology  as  a  substitute  for  the  knife,  and  devised  nearly  all 
the  different  forms  now  in  use,  although  others  have  gone  over 
the  same  ground  since.  Without  the  aid  of  these  instruments 
there  would  have  been  but  little  advance  made  in  plastic 
surgery. 

There  will  be  a  reaction  and  a  return  to  the  proper  use  and 
administration  of  hot-water  vaginal  douches;  and  also  in  the 
use  of  pessaries,  which  never  fail  to  be  of  benefit  when  em- 
ployed to  restore  the  pelvic  circulation  rather  than  the  version, 
and  when  fitted  with  a  mechanical  instinct  to  give  the  needed 
support. 

Since  the  last  edition  of  my  work  on  Gynecology  was  pub- 
lished I  have  made  two  contributions  which  are  worthy  of  note. 
First,  the  introduction  of  a  ready  method  for  establishing  a 
permanent  opening  above  the  pubes  for  the  otherwise  unreliev- 
able  cases  of  vesico-vaginal  fistula,  a  procedure  now  fortunately 
seldom  needed,  but  could  be  utilized  for  the  relief  of  certain 
conditions  existing  in  the  male  bladder.  A  paper  read  by  me 
before  the  New  York  Obstetrical  Society,  ' '  Incurable  Vesico- 
vaginal Fistula,  Etc.,"  was  published  in  the  "American  Journal 
of  Obstetrics,"  May,  1895. 

The  other  subject  was  more  important:  "Inclined  Decu- 
bitus, Etc.,"  to  be  used  for  restoring  the  normal  circu- 
lation in  the  female  pelvis  and  for  the  cure  of  pelvic  inflam- 
matory conditions.  During  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years 
of  my  professional  work  I  owed  a  greater  degree  of  my 
success  to  this  agent  than  I  was  ever  able  to  gain  by  any 
other  means. 

It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance  that  so  simple  a  procedure, 
and  one  which  must  appeal  to  the  good  judgment  of  every  one 
on  investigation,  should  be  entirely  unappreciated  by  the  pro- 
fession. I  hope  some  one  may  yet  give  this  subject  due  thought 
and  be  able  to  popularize  so  important  an  aid  in  the  treatment 
of  the  diseases  of  women. 

i75 


In  1892  I  contributed  an  article  on  this  subject  to  the 
February  number  of  the  "New  York  Journal  of  Gyne&ology 
and  Obstetrics,"  which  is  well  worth  the  attention  of  some 
enterprising  medical  journal  to  reprint,  as  it  has  been  forgotten. 

There  are  other  points  which,  in  justice  to  myself,  should 
be  properly  presented,  and  much  which  may  hereafter  be  placed 
to  the  credit  of  American  surgery,  but  I  have  said  enough  to 
indicate  the  course  for  further  information. 

This  dinner  has  already  given  me  a  new  lease  of  life,  and 
I  feel  as  young  as  I  did  at  the  age  of  forty,  but,  unfortunately, 
my  injured  leg  brings  me  down  to  close  bearing  and  to  the  gait 
of  a  very  old  man.  I,  however,  am  enjoying  life  and  every 
hour  of  it.  I  have  been  fortunate  in  having  always  had  some 
hobby  in  active  operation.  I  urge  all  of  you  to  cultivate  such 
an  accomplishment  as  an  investment  for  your  old  age,  which 
will  never  cease  to  bear  interest,  and  to  try  to  get  all  the  fun 
you  can  out  of  it.  My  present  hobby  is  the  study  of  the  Irish 
language,  which  I  began  after  my  seventy-fifth  year,  and  it  has 
not  only  afforded  me  steady  occupation,  but  intense  enjoyment. 

In  saying  farewell  to  you,  one  and  all,  it  is  my  sincere 
prayer  that  as  you  advance  in  years  it  may  be  your  good  fortune 
to  have  your  life  pass  on  to  the  end  with  as  smooth  and  restful 
a  current  as  has  been  mine  so  far.  I  bid  you  farewell,  and  to 
many  from  different  and  distant  sections  of  the  country  it  must, 
I  fear,  be  for  the  last  time. 


"  HERE  MUST  END  THE  STORY  OF  MY  LIFE. "-Comedy  of  Errors. 

176 


Date  Due 



f 

R154.Em6  B53 

The  birthday  dinner  to  Thomas 
Addis  Emmet 


